WALSWOirP 


LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 


Mrs.  SARAH  P.  WALS  WORTH. 

Received  October,  1894. 
Accessions  No..  ^7//      .      Class  No._ 


MORE  WORLDS  THAN  ONE 

THE  CREED  OF  THE  PHILOSOPHER 
AND  THE  HOPE  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN. 


SIR  DAVID  BREWSTER,  K.  H.,  D.  C.  L. 

T.  R.  S.,   V.  P.  R.  S.,   EDIN.,   AND    ASSOCIATE    OF  THE   INSTITUTE  OF  FRANCE, 


'  Bright  star  of  eve,  that  send'st  thy  softening  ray 
Through  the  dim  twilight  of  this  nether  sky, 
I  hail  thy  beam  like  rising  of  the  day, 
Hast  thou  a  home  for  me  when  I  shall  die  ? 

1  Is  .Tiere  a  spot  within  thy  radiant  sphere, 
Where  love,  and  faith,  and  truth,  again  may  dwell  ; 
Where  I  may  seek  the  rest  I  find  not  here, 
And  clasp  the  cherished  forms  I  loved  so  well  ?" 


NEW  YORK: 
ROBERT  CARTER  &  BROTHERS, 

No.   285    BROADWAY. 
1854. 


CONTENTS.      • 

PAGE 

PEEFACE, v 

INTRODUCTION, 7 

CHAP.  I.  Religious  Aspect  of  the  Question,        .        .  15 

II.  Description  of  the  Solar  System,         .         .  26 

III.  The  Geological  Condition  of  the  Earth,       .  43 

IV.  Analogy  between  the  Earth  and  the  other 

Planets, 61 

V.  The  Sun,  Moon,  Satellites,  and  Asteriods,    .       94 
VI.  The  Motion  of  the  Solar  System  round  a 

distant  Centre, 116 

VII.  Religious  Difficulties, 131 

VIII.  Single  Stars  and  Binary  Systems,         ,         ,162 
IX.  Clusters  of  Stars  and  Nebulas,      .         .         .173 

X.  General  Summary, 1 84 

XI.  Reply  to  Objections  drawn  from  Geology,  .     204 
XII.  Objections  from  the  Nature  of  Nebulae,       .     215 

XIII.  Objections  from  the  Nature  of  the  Fixed 

Stars  and  Binary  Systems,    .         .         .     225 

XIV.  Objections  from  the  Nature  of  the  Planets,     239 
XV.  The  Future  of  the  Universe,         .        .         .259 


PREFACE. 

Having  been  requested  by  the  Editor  of  the 
North  British  Review  to  give  an  account  of  a  work 
entitled  Of  a  Plurality  of  Worlds,  an  Essay,  I  under 
took  the  task,  in  the  belief  that  it  contained  senti 
ments  similar  to  my  own,  and  that  I  should  have 
the  gratification  of  illustrating  and  recommending  a 
doctrine  which  had  long  been  the  creed  of  the  Phi 
losopher,  and  the  hope  of  the  Christian.  I  was  sur 
prised,  however,  to  find  that,  under  a  title  calculated 
to  mislead  the  public,  the  author  had  made  an  elab 
orate  attack  upon  opinions  consecrated,  as  I  had 
thought,  by  Eeason  and  Revelation;  and  had,  in 
concluding  his  argument,  not  only  adopted  the  Neb 
ular  Theory,  so  universally  condemned  as  a  danger 
ous  speculation,  but  had  taken  a  view  of  the  condif 
tion  of  the  Solar  System,  calculated  to  disparage  the 
science  of  Astronomy,  and  to  throw  a  doubt  over 
the  noblest  of  its  truths. 


yi  PKKFACE. 

Under  ordinary  circumstances  I  should  have  con 
tented  myself  with  such  an  analysis  and  criticism 
of  the  work  as  could  be  given  within  the  narrow 
limits  of  a  Review ;  but  while  the  boldness  of  the 
author's  speculations,  and  the  ingenuity  with  which 
they  were  maintained,  required  a  more  elaborate 
examination  of  them,  the  new  views  which  present 
ed  themselves  to  me  during  the  study  of  the  subject, 
demanded  a  copious  detail  of  facts  which  could  be 
given  only  in  a  separate  Treatise.  I  have,  therefore, 
devoted  the  principal  part  of  the  volume  to  a  state 
ment  of  the  arguments  in  favor  of  a  Plurality  of 
Worlds,  and  have  endeavored,  in  the  subsequent 
chapters,  to  answer  the  various  objections  urged 
against  it  by  the  author  of  the  Essay,  and  to  exam 
ine  the  grounds  upon  which  he  has  attempted  to  es 
tablish  the  extraordinary  doctrine,  "  that  the  Earth 
is  really  the  largest  planetary  body  in  the  Solar 
System, — its  domestic  hearth,  and  the  only  world 
in  the  Universe !" 


ST.  LEONARD'S  COLLEGE,  ST.  ANDREWS, 
April  25th,  1854. 


MORE  WORLDS  THAN  ONE. 


INTRODUCTION. 

THERE  is  no  subject  within  the  whole  range 
of  knowledge  so  universally  interesting  as  that 
of  a  Plurality  of  Worlds.  It  commands  the 
sympathies,  and  appeals  to  the  judgment  of  men 
of  all  nations,  of  all  creeds,  and  of  all  times ;  and 
no  sooner  do  we  comprehend  the  few  simple 
facts  on  which  it  rests,  than  the  mind  rushes 
instinctively  to  embrace  it.  Before  the  great 
truths  of  Astronomy  were  demonstrated— before 
the  dimensions  and  motions  of  the  planets  were 
ascertained,  and  the  fixed  stars  placed  at  incon 
ceivable  distances  from  the  system  to  which  we 
belong,  philosophers  and  poets  descried  in  the 
celestial  spheres  the  abode  of  the  blest ;  but  it 
was  not  till  the  form  and  size  and  motions  of 


8  IJSTTKODUCTION. 

the  earth  were  known,  and  till  the  condition 
of  the  other  planets  was  found  to  be  the  same, 
that  analogy  compelled  us  to  believe  that  these 
planets  must  be  inhabited  like  our  own. 

Although  this  opinion  was  maintained  inci 
dentally  by  various  writers  both  on  astronomy 
and  natural  religion,  yet  M.  Fontenelle,  Secre 
tary  to  the  Academy  of  Sciences  in  Paris,  was 
the  first  individual  who  wrote  a  work  expressly 
on  the  subject.  It  was  published  in  1686,  the 
year  before  Sir  Isaac  Newton  gave  his  immor 
tal  work,  the  Principia,  to  the  world.  It  was 
entitled  Conversations  on  the  Plurality  of  Worlds, 
and  consisted  of  five  chapters  with  the  follow 
ing  titles : 

1.  The  Earth  is  a  planet  which  turns  round 
its  own  axis  and  also  round  the  sun. 

2.  The  Moon  is  a  habitable  world. 

3.  Particulars  concerning  the  world  in  the 
Moon,  and  that  the  other  planets  are  also  in 
habited. 

4.  Particulars  of  the  worlds  of  Venus,  Mer 
cury,  Mars,  Jupiter,  and  Saturn. 

5.  The  Fixed  Stars  are  as  many  Suns,  each 
of  which  illuminates  a  world. 


INTRODUCTION.  9 

In  another  edition  of  the  work  published  in 
1719,  Fontenelle  added  a  sixth  chapter,  entitled, 

6.  New  thoughts  which  confirm  those  in  the 
preceding  conversations.  The  latest  discoveries 
which  have  been  made  in  the  heavens. 

This  singular  work,  written  by  a  man  of  great 
genius,  and  with  a  sufficient  knowledge  of  as 
tronomy,  excited  a  high  degree  of  interest,  both 
from  the  nature  of  the  subject  and  the  vivacity 
and  humor  with  which  it  is  written.  The  con 
versations  are  carried  on  with  the  Marchioness 

of  G ,  with  whom  the  author  is  supposed  to 

be  residing.  The  lady  is,  of  course,  distinguished 
by  youth,  beauty,  and  talent,  and  the  share 
which  she  takes  in  the  dialogue  is  not  less  in 
teresting  than  the  more  scientific  part  assumed 
by  the  philosopher. 

The  Plurality  of  Worlds,  as  the  work  was 
called,  was  read  with  unexampled  avidity,  and 
was  speedily  circulated  through  every  part  of 
Europe.  It  was  translated  into  all  the  lan 
guages  of  the  Continent,  and  was  honored  by 
annotations  from  the  pen  of  the  celebrated  as 
tronomer  La  Lande,  and  of  M.  Gottsched,  one  of 
its  German  editors.  No  fewer  than  three  English 


10  INTRODUCTION. 

translations  of  it  were  published,  and  one  of 
these,  we  believe  the  first,  had  run  through  six 
editions  so  early  as  the  year  1737.  Wherever 
it  was  read  it  was  admired,  and  though  one 
hundred  and  sixty-seven  years  have  elapsed  since 
its  publication,  we  have  not  been  able  to  learn 
that  any  attempt  has  been  made,  during  that 
long  period,  either  to  ridicule  or  controvert  the 
fascinating  doctrines  which  it  taught. 

A  few  years  after  the  publication  of  Fonte- 
nelle's  work,  the  celebrated  philosopher  Chris 
tian  Huygens,  the  contemporary  of  Newton,  and 
the  discoverer  of  the  ring  and  the  satellites  of  Sat 
urn,  composed  a  work  on  the  Plurality  of  Worlds, 
under  the  title  of  the  Theory  of  the  Universe,  or 
Conjectures  concerning  the  Celestial  Bodies  and 
their  Inhabitants*  This  interesting  treatise,  as 
large  as  that  of  Fontenelle,  has  never  been  trans 
lated  into  English.  It  was  written  at  the  age 
of  sixty-seven,  a  short  time  before  the  author's 
death,  and  so  great  was  the  interest  which  he 
felt  in  its  publication,  that  he  earnestly  besought 
his  brother  to  carry  his  wishes  into  effect.  He 

*  Cosmotheuros  sive  de  Terris  Celestibus,  earumque  ornatu  conjec- 
turae,  ad  Constantinum  Hugenium  Fratrem,  Gulielmo  iii.  Magnae  Britan- 
iiia3  Regi  a  Secretis.  Hugenii  Opera,  torn.  ii.  pp.  645-722. 


INTRODUCTION.  11 

mentions  the  great  pleasure  he  had  derived  from 
the  composition  of  it,  and  from  the  communica 
tion  of  his  views  to  his  friends.  About  to  enter 
the  world  of  the  future,  the  philosopher  who  had 
added  new  planets  to  our  system,  and  discovered 
the  most  magnificent  and  incomprehensible  of 
its  bodies,  looked  forward  with  interest  to  a 
solution  of  the  mysteries  which  it  had  been  the 
business  and  the  happiness  of  his  life  to  con 
template.  He  was  anxious  that  his  fellow* men 
should  derive  the  same  pleasure  from  viewing 
the  planets  as  the  seat  of  intellectual  life,  and 
he  left  them  his  Theory  of  the  Universe — a 
legacy  worthy  of  his  name. 

The  Oosmotheoros  is  a  work  essentially  differ 
ent  from  that  of  Fontenelle.  It  is  didactic  and 
dispassionate,  deducing  by  analogical  reasoning 
a  variety  of  views  respecting  the  plants  and 
animals  in  the  planets,  and  the  general  nature 
and  condition  of  their  inhabitants.  The  work 
is  to  some  extent  a  popular  Treatise  on  Astron 
omy,  and  contains  all  that  was  at  that  time 
known  respecting  the  primary  and  secondary 
planets  of  the  solar  system. 

We  are  not  acquainted  with  any  other  work 


12  MORE  WORLDS  THAN  ONE. 

written  expressly  on  the  subject  of  a  Plurality 
of  Worlds,  but  the  doctrine  was  maintained  by 
almost  all  the  distinguished  astronomers  and 
writers  who  have  flourished  since  the  true  figure 
of  the  earth  was  determined.  Giordano  Bruno 
of  Nola,*  Kepler  and  Tycho  believed  in  it ;  and 
Cardinal  Cusa  and  Bruno,  before  the  discovery 
of  binary  systems  among  the  stars,  believed  also 
that  the  stars  were  inhabited.  In  more  modern 
times  Dr.  Bentley,  Master  of  Trinity  College, 
Cambridge,  in  his  eighth  sermon  on  the  Confu 
tation  of  Atheism  from  the  origin  and  frame  of 
the  world,  f  has  maintained  the  same  doctrine, 
and  in  our  own  day  we  may  number  among  its 
supporters  the  distinguished  names  of  Sir  Wil 
liam  and  Sir  John  Herschel,  Dr.  Chalmers, 
Isaac  Taylor,  and  M.  Arago. 

Under  these  circumstances  the  scientific  world 
has  been  greatly  surprised  at  the  appearance  of 
a  work  entitled  Of  ike  Plurality  of  Worlds,  the 
object  of  which  is  to  prove  that  our  earth  is  the 
only  inhabited  world  in  the  universe,  while  its 
direct  tendency  is  to  ridicule  and  bring  into 

*  Iti  his  work  entitled  Universo  c  Mondi  innumcrabili. 
t  This  sermon  was  written  from  the  information  given  him  by  Sir  Isaac 
Newton  in  his  four  celebrated  letters  addressed  to  Dr.  Bentley. 


INTRODUCTION.  13 

contempt  the  grand  discoveries  in  sidereal  astron 
omy  by  which,  the  last  century  has  been  dis 
tinguished.  Although  it  is  not  probable  that  a 
work  of  this  kind,  however  ably  it  is  written, 
and  however  ingenious  may  be  the  reasoning  by 
which  views  so  novel  and  extraordinary  are 
defended,  will  influence  opinions  long  and 
deeply  cherished,  we  have  thought  it  necessary, 
in  defence  of  astronomical  truth,  as  well  as  of 
the  lessons  which  it  teaches,  to  defend  the  doc 
trine  of  a  Plurality  of  Worlds  by  the  aid  of 
modern  discoveries,  and  to  analyze  and  refute 
the  objections  which  have  been  made  to  it  in 
the  very  remarkable  work  to  which  we  have 
referred. 


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CHAPTEE  I. 

KELIGIOUS   ASPECT  OF   THE   QUESTION. 

BEFOEE  Christianity  shed  its  light  upon  the 
world,  the  philosopher  who  had  no  other  guide 
but  reason,  looked  beyond  the  grave  for  a  rest 
ing-place  from  his  labors,  as  well  as  for  a  solu 
tion  of  the  mysteries  which  perplexed  him. 
Minds,  too,  of  an  inferior  order,  destined  for 
immortality,  and  conscious  of  their  destination, 
instinctively  pried  into  the  future,  cherishing 
visions  of  another  world  with  all  the  interests 
of  domestic  affection,  and  with  all  the  curiosity 
which  the  study  of  nature  inspires.  Interesting 
as  has  been  the  past  history  of  our  race,  —  en 
grossing  as  must  ever  be  the  present,  — •  the 
future,  more  exciting  still,  mingles  itself  with 
every  thought  and  sentiment,  and  casts  its 
beams  of  hope,  or  its  shadows  of  fear,  over  the 
stage  both  of  active  and  contemplative  life.  In 


16  MORE  WORLDS  THAN  ONE 

youth  we  scarcely  descry  it  in  the  distance.  To 
the  stripling  and  the  man  it  appears  and  dis 
appears  like  a  variable  star,  showing  in  painful 
succession  its  spots  of  light  and  of  shade.  In 
age  it  looms  gigantic  to  the  eye,  full  of  chas 
tened  hope  and  glorious  anticipation ;  and  at 
the  great  transition  when  the  outward  eye  is 
dim,  the  image  of  the  future  is  the  last  picture 
which  is  effaced  from  the  retina  of  the  mind. 

But  however  universal  has  been  the  antici 
pation  of  the  future,  and  however  powerful  its 
influence  over  the  mind,  Eeason  did  not  venture 
to  give  a  form  and  locality  to  its  conceptions ;  and 
the  imagination,  even  with  its  loosest  reins,  failed 
in  the  attempt.  Before  the  birth  of  Astronomy, 
indeed,  when  our  knowledge  of  space  terminat 
ed  with  the  ocean  or  the  mountain  range  that 
bounded  our  view,  the  philosopher  could  but 
place  his  elysium  in  the  sky ;  and  even  when 
revelation  had  unveiled  the  house  of  many  man 
sions,  the  Christian  sage  could  but  place  his 
future  home  in  the  new  heavens  and  in  the  new 
earth  of  his  creed.  Thus  vaguely  shadowed 
forth,  thus  seen  as  through  a  glass  darkly,  the 
future  even  of  the  Christian,  though  a  reality 


RELIGIOUS  ASPECT   OF  THE  QUESTION.     17 

to  his  faith,  was  but  a  dream  to  his  reason; 
and  in  vain  did  he  inquire  what  this  future  was 
to  be  in  its  physical  relations,- — in  what  region 
of  space  it  was  to  be  spent, — what  duties  and 
pursuits  were  to  occupy  it, — and  what  intellec 
tual  and  spiritual  gifts  were  to  be  its  portion. 
But  when  Science  taught  us  the  past  history  of 
our  earth,  its  form,  and  size,  and  motions, — when 
Astronomy  surveyed  the  solar  system,  and  meas 
ured  its  planets,  and  pronounced  the  earth  to 
be  but  a  tiny  sphere,  and  to  have  no  place  of 
distinction  among  its  gigantic  compeers, — and 
when  the  Telescope  established  new  systems  of 
worlds  far  beyond  the  boundaries  of  our  own, 
the  future  of  the  sage  claimed  a  place  through 
out  the  universe,  and  inspired  him  with  an 
interest  in  worlds,  and  systems  of  worlds, — in 
life  without  limits,  as  well  as  in  life  without 
end.  On  eagles'  wings  he  soared  to  the  zenith, 
and  sped  his  way  to  the  horizon  of  space,  with 
out  reaching  its  ever-retiring  bourne ;  and  in 
the  infinity  of  worlds,  and  amid  the  infinity  of 
life,  he  descried  the  home  and  the  companions 
of  the  future. 

That  these  views  are  in  accordance  with  the 
2* 


18  MORE   WORLDS   THAN   ONE. 

demonstrated  truths  of  astronomy,  and  deduei- 
ble  from  them  by  analogies  which  guide  us  in 
the  ordinary  business  of  life,  it  will  be  the  ob 
ject  of  this  Essay  to  show.  But  before  entering 
upon  the  astronomical  and  geological  details 
which  will  thus  demand  our  attention,  some 
preliminary  observations  are  necessary  to  pre 
pare  our  minds  for  the  unfettered  discussion  of 
a  subject  which  is  still  surrounded  with  many 
prejudices. 

In  advocating  a  plurality  of  worlds,  we  are 
fortunately  in  a  more  favored  position  than 
the  geologist,  whose  researches  into  the  ancient 
history  of  the  earth  stood  in  apparent  opposi 
tion  to  the  declarations  of  Scripture.  Neither 
in  the  Old  nor  in  the  New  Testament  is  there 
a  single  expression  incompatible  with  the  great 
truth,  that  there  are  other  worlds  than  our  own 
which  are  the  seats  of  life  and  intelligence. 
Many  passages  of  Scripture,  on  the  contrary, 
are  favorable  to  the  doctrine,  and  there  are 
some,  we  think,  which  are  inexplicable,  without 
admitting  it  to  be  true.  The  beautiful  text,* 

*  When  I  consider  thy  heavens,  the  work  of  thy  fingers,  the  moon  and 
the  stars,  which  thou  hast  ordained ;  what  is  man,  that  thou  art  mindful 
of  him?  and  the  son  of  man,  that  thou  visitest  him.— PSALM  viii.  3,  4. 


RELIGIOUS  ASPECT  OF  THE  QUESTION.         19 

for  example,  in  which  the  inspired  Psalmist 
expresses  his  surprise  that  the  Being  who  fash 
ioned  the  heavens,  and  ordained  the  moon 
and  the  stars,  should  be  mindful  of  so  insignif 
icant  a  being  as  man,  is,  we  think,  a  positive 
argument  for  a  plurality  of  worlds.  We  cannot 
concur  in  the  idea  of  Dr.  Chalmers,  that  a  per 
son  wholly  ignorant  of  the  science  of  astronomy, 
and,  consequently,  to  whom  all  the  stars  and 
planets  are  but  specks  of  light  in  the  sky,  not 
more  important  than  the  ignis  fatuus  upon  a 
marshy  field,  could  express  the  surprise  and 
deep  emotion  of  the  Hebrew  poet.  We  cannot 
doubt  that  inspiration  revealed  to  him  the  mag 
nitude,  the  distances,  and  the  final  cause  of  the 
glorious  spheres  which  fixed  his  admiration. 
Two  portion's  of  creation  are  here  placed  in  the 
strongest  contrast, — Man  in  his  comparative  in 
significance,  and  the  Heavens, — the  Moon  and 
the  Stars  in  their  absolute  grandeur.  He  whom 
God  made  a  little  lower  than  the  angels,  whom 
He  crowned  with  glory  and  with  honor,  and 
for  whose  redemption  He  sent  His  only  Son  to 
suffer  and  to  die,  could  not,  in  the  Psalmist's 
estimation,  be  an  object  of  insignificance,  and 


20  MOKE  WOELDS  THAN  ONE. 

measured,  therefore,  by  his  high  estimate  of  man, 
his  idea  of  the  heavens,  the  moon,  and  the  stars 
must  have  been  of  the  most  transcendent  kind. 
Had  he  been  ignorant  of  astronomy,  he  never 
could  have  given  utterance  to  the  sentiment  in 
the  text.  Man,  made  after  God's  image,  was  a 
nobler  creation  than  twinkling  sparks  in  the 
sky,  or  than  the  larger  and  more  useful  lamp 
of  the  moon.  The  Psalmist  must,  therefore, 
have  written  under  the  impression  either  that 
the  planets  and  stars  were  worlds  without  life, 
or  worlds  inhabited  by  rational  and  immortal 
beings.  If  he  regarded  them  as  unoccupied,  we 
cannot  see  any  reason  for  surprise  that  God 
should  be  mindful  of  His  noblest  work,  because 
innumerable  masses  of  matter  existed  in  the 
universe,  performing,  for  no  intelligible  purpose, 
their  solitary  rounds.  If  they  were  thus  made 
for  the  benefit  and  contemplation  of  man,  un 
seen  by  any  mortal  eye  but  his,  then  should  the 
Psalmist  have  expressed  his  wonder,  not  at  the 
littleness,  but  at  the  greatness  of  the  being  for 
whose  use  such  magnificent  worlds  had  been 
called  into  existence.  But  if  the  poet  viewed 
these  worlds,  as  he  doubtless  did,  as  teeming 


\ 


KELIGIOUS  ASPECT  OF  THE  QUESTION.        21 

with  life,  physical  and  intellectual,  as  globes 
which  may  have  required  millions  of  years  for 
their  preparation,  exhibiting  new  forms  of  be 
ing,  new  powers  of  mind,  new  conditions  in 
the  past,  and  new  glories  in  the  future,  we 
can  then  understand  why  he  marvelled  at  the 
care  of  God  for  creatures  so  comparatively  in 
significant  as  man. 

It  is  evident,  from  the  text  we  have  been 
considering,  and  from  other  passages  of  Scrip 
ture,  that  the  word  Heavens,  so  distinctly  sepa 
rated  from  the  moon  and  the  stars,  represents 
a  material  creation,  the  work  of  God's  fingers, 
and  not  a  celestial  place  in  which  spiritual 
beings  may  be  supposed  to  dwell ;  and  we  are 
therefore  entitled  to  attach  the  same  meaning 
to  the  term  wherever  it  occurs,  unless  the  con 
text  forbids  such  an  application  of  it.  The 
writers,  both  in  the  Old  and  New  Testament, 
speak  of  the  heavens  as  a  separate  material 
creation  from  the  earth,  and  there  are  passages 
which  seem  very  clearly  to  indicate  that  they 
are  the  seat  of  life.  When  St.  Paul  tells  us 
that  the  worlds  were  framed  by  the  word  of 
God,  and  that  by  our  Saviour,  the  heir  of  all 


22  MORE  WORLDS  THAN  ONE. 

things,  He  made  the  worlds,  we  are  not  entitled 
to  suppose  that  he  means  globes  of  matter,  re 
volving  without  inhabitants,  or  without  any 
preparation  for  receiving  them.  He  can  only 
mean  worlds  like  our  own,  that  declare  to  their 
living  occupants  the  glory  of  their  Maker. 
When  Isaiah  speaks  of  the  heavens  being  spread 
out  as  a  tent  to  dwell  in*  when  Job  tells  us 
that  God,  who  spread  out  the  heavens,  made 
Arcturus,  Orion,  and  Pleiades,  and  the  cham 
bers  of -the  south,f  and  when  Amos  speaks  of 
Him  who  buildeth  his  stories  in  the  heavens,;]: 
(His  house  of  many  mansions,)  they  use  terms 
which  clearly  indicate  that  the  celestial  spheres 
are  the  seat  of  life.  In  the  book  of  Genesis, 
too,  God  is  said  to  have  finished  the  heavens 
and  the  earth,  and  all  the  host  ofihem.§  JSTehe- 
miah  declares  that  God  made  the  heaven,  the 
heaven  of  heavens,  and  all  their  host,  the  earth 
and  all  things  that  are  therein,  and  that  the 
host  of  heaven  worship  Him.\  The  Psalmist 
speaks  of  all  the  host  of  the  heavens  as  made  by 
the  breath  of  God's  mouth,*\\  (the  process  by 

*  Isaiah  xlv.  22'.  f  Job  ix.  8,  9.  t  A™os  ix.  0. 

§  Gen.  ii.  1.  |  Neh.  ix.  G.  1  Psalm  xxxiii.  G. 


EELIGIOUS  ASPECT  OF  THE  QUESTION.    23 

which  He  gave  life  to  Adam  ;)  and  Isaiah  fur 
nishes  us  with,  a  striking  passage,  in  which  the 
occupants  of  the  earth  and  of  the  heavens  are 
separately  described.  "I  have  made  the  earth, 
and  created  man  upon  it :  I,  even  my  hands, 
have  stretched  out  the  heavens,  and  all  their 
host  have  I  commanded"*  But  in  addition  to 
these  obvious  references  to  life  and  things  per 
taining  to  life,  we  find  in  Isaiah  the  following 
remarkable  passage,  "  For  thus  saith  the  Lord 
that  created  the  heavens,  God  himself  that 
formed  the  earth  and  made  it ;  he  hath  estab 
lished  it,  he  created  it  NOT  IN  VAIN,  he  formed 
it  TO  BE  INHABITED.'^  Here  we  have  a  distinct 
declaration  from  the  inspired  prophet,  that  the 
earth  would  have  been  created  IN  VAIN  if  it  had 
not  been  formed  to  be  inhabited ;  and  hence  we 
draw  the  conclusion,  that  as  the  Creator  cannot 
be  supposed  to  have  made  the  worlds  of  our 
system,  and  those  in  the  sidereal  universe  in 
vain,  they  must  have  been  formed  to  be  inhab 
ited. 

These  views,  as  deduced  from  Scripture,  re 
ceive  much  support  from  considerations  of  a 

*  Isaiah  xlv.  12.  t  Isaiah  xlv.  18. 


24  MORE  WORLDS  THAN  ONE. 

very  different  nature.  Man  in  his  future  state 
of  existence  is  to  consist,  as  at  present,  of  a 
spiritual  nature  residing  in  a  corporeal  frame. 
He  must  live  therefore  upon  a  material  planet, 
subject  to  all  the  laws  of  matter,  and  perform 
ing  functions  for  which  a  material  body  is  in 
dispensable.  We  must  therefore  find,  for  the 
race  of  Adam,  if  not  for  races  that  preceded 
him,  a  material  home  upon  which  he  may 
reside,  or  from  which  he  may  travel  by  means 
unknown  to  us,  to  other  localities  in  the  uni 
verse.  That  home,  we  think,  cannot  be  the 
new  earth  upon  which  we  dwell,  though  it  may 
be  the  new  heavens  wherein  dwelleth  righteous 
ness.  At  the  present  hour  the  population  of 
the  earth  is  nearly  a  thousand  millions ;  and  by 
whatever  process  we  may  compute  the  numbers 
that  have  existed  before  the  present  generation, 
and  estimate  those  that  are  yet  to  inherit  the 
earth,  we  shall  obtain  a  population  which  the 
habitable  parts  of  our  globe  could  not  possibly 
accommodate.  If  there  is  not  room  then  on 
our  globe  for  the  millions  of  millions  of  being 
who  have  lived  and  died  upon  its  surface,  and 
who  may  yet  live  and  die  during  the  period 


RELIGIOUS  ASPECT  OF  THE  QUESTION.       25 

fixed  for  its  occupation  by  man,  we  can  scarcely 
doubt  that  their  future  abode  must  be  on  some 
of  the  primary  or  secondary  planets  of  the  Solar 
system,  whose  inhabitants  have  ceased  to  exist 
like  those  on  the  earth,  or  upon  planets  which 
have  long  been  in  a  state  of  preparation,  as  our 
earth  was,  for  the  advent  of  intellectual  life. 

The  connection  thus  indicated  between  the 
destinies  of  the  human  family  and  the  material 
system  to  which  we  belong,  arising  from  the 
limited  extent  of  the  earth's  habitable  surface, 
and  its  unlimited  population,  is  a  strong  corrob- 
oration  of  the  views  which  we  have  deduced 
from  Scripture.  In  the  world  of  instinct  the 
superabundance  of  life  is  controlled  by  the  law 
of  mutual  destruction,  which  reigns  in  the  earth, 
the  ocean,  and  the  air ;  but  the  swarm  of  hu 
man  life,  increasing  in  an  incalculable  ratio, 
both  in  the  Old  and  the  New  World,  has  not 
been  perceptibly  reduced  by  the  scythe  of  fam 
ine,  of  pestilence,  or  of  war;  and  when  we 
consider  the  length  of  time  during  which  this 
accumulation  may  proceed,  we  cannot  justly 
challenge  the  correctness  of  the  conclusion  that 
this  earth  is  not  to  be  the  future  residence 
3 


26  MORE  WORLDS  THAN  ONE. 

of  the  numerous  family  which  it  has  reared. 
The  connection  between  this  probable  truth  and 
the  doctrine  of  a  plurality  of  worlds,  will  ap 
pear  from  the  facts  and  reasonings  in  the  fol 
lowing  chapter. 


CHAPTER  II. 

DESCRIPTION  OF  THE   SOLAR  SYSTEM. 

IN  order  to  appreciate  the  force  of  the  argu 
ment  for  a  plurality  of  worlds,  derived  from  the 
similarity  of  our  earth  to  the  other  planets  of 
the  Solar  system,  we  must  call  the  attention  of 
the  reader  to  a  popular  description  of  the  mag 
nitudes,  distances,  and  general  phenomena  of 
the  different  bodies  that  compose  it. 

In  making  this  survey,  the  first  and  the 
grandest  object  which  arrests  our  attention  is 
the  glorious  SUN, — the  centre  and  soul  of  our 
system,— the  lamp  that  lights  it,  the  fire  that 
heats  it, — the  magnet  that  guides  and  controls 
it, — the  fountain  of  color  which  gives  its  azure 
to  the  sky,  its  verdure  to  the  fields,  its  rainbow 
hues  to  the  gay  world  of  flowers,  and  the  "  pur 
ple  light  of  love  "  to  the  marble  cheek  of  youth 
and  beauty.  This  globe,  probably  of  burning 


28  MORE  WORLDS  THAN  ONE. 

gas,  enveloping  a  solid  nucleus,  is  nearly  900,000 
miles  in  diameter,  above  a  hundred  times  the 
diameter  of  our  globe,  and  five  hundred  times 
larger  in  bulk  than  all  the  planets  put  together ! 
It  revolves  upon  its  axis  in  twenty-five  days, 
and  throws  off  its  light  with  the  velocity  of 
192,000  miles  in  a  second.  Sometimes  by 
the  naked  eye,  but  frequently  even  by  small 
telescopes,  large  black  spots,  many  thousand 
miles  in  diameter,  are  seen  upon  its  surface, 
and  are  evidently  openings  in  the  luminous 
atmosphere,  through  which  we  see  the  opaque 
solid  nucleus,  or  the  real  body  of  the  sun. 

Around,  and  nearest  the  sun,  at  a  distance 
of  thirty-six  millions  of  miles,  revolves  the 
planet  MERCURY,  with  a  day  of  twenty -four 
hours,  and  a  year  of  eighty-eight  days ;  and  he 
receives  from  the  sun  nearly  seven  times  as 
much  light  and  heat  as  the  earth.  Through 
the  telescope  some  astronomers  have  observed 
spots  on  its  surface,  and  mountains  several  miles 
in  height. 

Next  to  Mercury  the  planet  VENUS  revolves 
at  the  distance  of  sixty-eight  millions  of  miles, 
with  a  day  of  nearly  twenty-four  hours,  and  a 


DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  SOLAR  SYSTEM.      29 

year  of  224  days.  Her  diameter  is  7,700  miles, 
a  little  less  than  that  of  the  earth.  She  changes 
her  phases  like  the  moon,  exhibits  spots  on  her 
surface,  and,  according  to  Schroeter,  has  moun 
tains  nearly  twenty  miles  in  height.  The  light 
and  heat  which  she  receives  from  the  sun  is 
about  double  of  that  which  is  received  by  the 
earth.* 

The  next  body  of  the  Solar  system  is  our  own 
EARTH — our  birthplace,  and  soon  to  be  our 
grave.  Its  distance  from  the  sun  is  ninety-six 
millions  of  miles  ;  its  diameter  nearly  8,000 ;  its 
year  365  days,  and  its  day  twenty-four  hours. 
The  form  of  the  Earth  is  that  of  an  oblate 
spheroid,  or  of  a  sphere  flattened  at  the  poles 
like  an  orange.  .  Its  superficies  is  divided  into 
continents  and  seas,  the  continents  occupying 
one-third,  and  the  seas  two-thirds  of  its  whole 
surface.  The  land,  sometimes  level  and  some 
times  undulating,  occasionally  rises  into  groups 
and  ranges  of  mountains,  the  highest  of  which 

*  From  the  rare  appearance  and  want  of  permanence  in  the  spots  of 
Mercury  and  Venus,  Sir  John  Herschel  is  of  opinion  "  that  we  do  not  see 
as  in  the  moon  the  real  surface  of  these  planets,  but  only  their  atmos 
phere,  much  loaded  with  clouds,  and  which  may  serve  to  mitigate  the 
otherwise  intense  glare  of  their  sunshine."—  Outlines  of  Astronomy,  §  509. 

3* 


30  MOKE  WORLDS  THAN  ONE. 

does  not  exceed  five  miles.  The  Earth  is  sur 
rounded  with  an  aerial  envelope  or  atmosphere, 
which  is  computed  to  be  about  forty -five  miles 
in  height,  though  the  region  of  clouds  does  not 
reach  much  above  the  summits  of  the  highest 
mountains. 

The  Earth  is  accompanied  by  a  MOON  or 
satellite,  whose  distance  is  237,000  miles,  and 
diameter  2,160.  Her  surface  is  composed  of 
hill  and  dale,  of  rocks  and  mountains  nearly 
two  miles  high,  and  of  circular  cavities,  some 
times  five  miles  in  depth,  and  forty  in  diameter, 
which  are  believed  to  be  the  remains  of  extinct 
volcanoes.  She  possesses  neither  lakes  nor  seas ; 
and  we  cannot  discover  with  the  telescope  any 
traces  of  living  beings,  or  any  monuments  of 
their  hands,  though  we  hope  it  will  be  done 
with  some  magnificent  telescope  which  may 
yet  be  constructed.  Viewing  the  Earth  as  the 
third  planet  in  order  from  the  sun,  can  we  doubt 
that  it  is  a  globe  like  the  rest,  poised  in  ether 
like  them,  and,  like  them,  moving  round  the 
central  luminary? 

Next,  beyond  the  Earth,  is  the  red-colored 
planet  MARS,  with  a  day  of  about  twenty-five 
hours,  and  revolving  round  the  sun  in  687  days. 


DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  SOLAR  SYSTEM.     31 

at  the  distance  of  one  hundred  and  forty-two 
millions  of  miles.  His  diameter  is  4,100  miles, 
and  his  surface  exhibits  spots  of  different  hues, 
— the  seas,  according  to  Sir  John  Herschel, 
being  green,  and  the  land  red.  The  spots  which, 
have  been  seen  on  this  planet  by  several  astron 
omers,  are  not  always  equally  distinct,  but 
when  seen  "  they  offer,"  as  Sir  John  Herschel 
observes,  "  the  appearance  of  forms,  considerably 
definite  and  highly  characteristic,  brought  suc 
cessively  into  view  by  the  rotation  of  the  planet, 
from  the  assiduous  observation  of  which  it  has 
even  been  found  practicable  to  construct  a  rude 
chart  of  the  surface  of  the  planet.  The  variety 
in  the  spots  may  arise  from  the  planet  not  being 
destitute  of  atmosphere  and  cloud ;  and  what 
adds  greatly  to  the  probability  of  this,  is  the 
appearance  of  brilliant  white  spots  at  its  poles, 
which  have  been  conjectured,  with  some  proba 
bility,  to  be  snow,  as  they  disappear  when  they 
have  been  long  exposed  to  the  sun,  and  are 
greatest  when  just  emerging  from  the  long  night 
of  their  polar  winter,  the  snow  line  then  ex 
tending  to  about  six  degrees  from  the  pole."* 

*  Outlines  of  Astronomy,  §  510. 


32  MORE  WORLDS  THAN  ONE. 

Hitherto  we  have  been  surveying  worlds  at  a 
respectful  distance  from  each  other,  and  having 
days,  and  nights,  and  seasons,  and  aspects,  of 
the  same  character ;  but  we  now  arrive  at  a 
region  in  space  where  some  great  catastrophe 
has  doubtless  taken  place.  At  the  distance  of 
about  two  hundred  and  fifty  millions  of  miles 
from  the  sun,  corresponding  to  a  period  of  about 
1,500  days,  astronomers  long  ago  predictedthe 
existence  of  a  large  planet,  occupying  the  space 
between  Mars  and  Jupiter.  In  the  beginning 
of  the  present  century,  one  very  small  planet 
was  discovered  in  this  locality  by  M.  Piazzi ; 
and  after  other  two  had  been  discovered,  one 
by  himself,  Dr.  Olbers  hazarded  the  opinion 
that  the  three  planets  were  fragments  of  a 
larger  one  which  had  burst ;  and  this  remark 
able  theory  has  been  almost  placed  beyond  a 
doubt  by  the  discovery,  in  the  same  place,  of 
twenty-nine  fragments  in  all,  chiefly  by  M< 
Gasparis  of  Naples,  and  our  own  countryman, 
Mr.  Hind. 

Beyond  this  remarkable  group  is  situated  the 
planet  JUPITER,  a  world  of  huge  magnitude, 
revolving  round  its  axis  in  ten  hours,  and  round 


DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  SOLAR  SYSTEM        33 

the  sun  in  4,333  days,  (a  little  less  than  twelve 
years,)  at  the  distance  of  four  hundred  and 
eighty-five  millions  of  miles.  His  form  is  that 
of  an  oblate  spheroid,  his  equatorial  being  to  his 
polar  diameter  as  107  to  100.  His  diameter  is 
90,000  miles,  and  he  is  attended  Toy  four  satel 
lites,  the  average  size  of  which  is  a  little  greater 
than  that  of  our  moon.  His  surface  exhibits 
bright  spots  and  dark  bands  or  belts,  which, 
though  they  have  always  the  same  direction, 
vary  in  breadth  and  in  position,  occasionally 
running  into  branches  and  dark  spots.  Sir 
John  Herschel  is  of  opinion,  that  the  belts  are 
tracts  of  corresponding  clear  sky  in  the  planet's 
atmosphere,  through  which  the  darker  body  of 
the  planet  is  seen,  and  that  they  are  produced 
by  currents  like  our  trade-winds,  but  having  a 
more  steady  and  decided  character. 

Next  to  Jupiter  is  the  remarkable  planet 
SATURN,  accompanied  with  eight  satellites,  and 
surrounded  by  a  ring,  separated  from  his  body 
by  an  interval  of  19,000  miles.  The  distance 
of  Saturn  from  the  sun  is  eight  hundred  and 
ninety  millions  of  miles,  his  annual  period 
twenty -nine  and  a  half  years,  and  the  length  of 


34  MORE  WORLDS  THAN  ONE. 

his  day  ten  and  a  half  hours.  His  diameter  is 
76,000  miles,  and  the  outer  diameter  of  his 
ring  176,000.  According  to  very  recent  obser 
vations,  the  ring  is  divided  into  three  separate 
rings,  which,  according  to  the  calculations  of 
Mr.  Bond,  an  American  astronomer,  must  be 
fluid.  He  is  of  opinion  that  the  number  of 
rings  is  continually  changing,  and  that  their 
maximum  number,  in  the  normal  condition  of 
the  mass,  does  not  exceed  twenty.  According 
to  Mr.  Bond,  the  power  which  sustains  the 
centre  of  gravity  of  the  ring  is  not  in  the 
planet  itself,  but  in  his  satellites ;  and  the 
satellites,  though  constantly  disturbing  the 
ring,  actually  sustain  it  in  the  very  act  of  per 
turbation. 

Mr.  Otto  Struve  and  Mr.  Bond  have  lately 
studied,  with  the  great  Munich  telescope,  at  the 
observatory  of  Pulkowa,  the  third  ring  of  Sat 
urn,  which  Mr.  Lassels  and  Mr.  Bond  discov 
ered  to  \>Q  fluid.  They  saw  distinctly  the  dark 
interval  between  this  fluid  ring  and  the  two  old 
ones,  and  even  measured  its  dimensions ;  and 
they  perceived  at  its  inner  margin  an  edge  feebly 
illuminated,  which  they  thought  might  be  the 


DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  SOLAR  SYSTEM.     35 

commencement  of  a  fourth  ring.  These  astron 
omers  are  of  opinion,  that  the  fluid  ring  is  not 
of  very  recent  formation,  and  that  it  is  not  sub 
ject  to  rapid  change  ;  and  they  have  come  to 
the  extraordinary  conclusion,  that  the  inner 
border  of  the  ring  has,  since  the  time  of  Huy- 
gens,  been  gradually  approaching  to  the  body 
of  Saturn;  and  that  we  may  expect  sooner  or 
later,  perhaps  in  some  dozen  of  years,  to  see  the 
rings  united  with  the  body  of  the  planet. 

Beyond  Saturn,  at  a  distance  from  the  sun 
of  one  thousand  eight  hundred  millions  of  miles, 
is  placed  the  planet  URANUS,  discovered  by  Dr 
Herschel.  Its  year,  or  annual  period,  is  eighty- 
four  years,  and  the  length  of  its  day  nine  and 
a  half  hours.  Its  diameter  is  34,500  miles, 
and  it  is  attended  by  eight  satellites,  six  of 
which  were  discovered  by  Dr.  Herschel,  and 
the  other  two,  a  few  years  ago,  by  Mr.  Lassels 
of  Liverpool. 

The  remotest  planet  of  our  system,  the  planet 
NEPTUNE,  discovered  theoretically  in  1846  by 
Adams  and  Leverrier,  and  first  recognized  in 
the  heavens  by  M.  Galle  of  Berlin,  is  about 
42,000  miles  in  diameter,  and  performs  its  an- 


36  MORE  WORLDS  THAN   ONE. 

nual  revolution  in  63,000  days,  (about  145  years,) 
at  the  distance  of  nearly  three  thousand  millions 
of  miles  from  the  sun.  It  is  accompanied  with 
one,  and  probably  two,  satellites ;  and  there  is 
reason  to  believe  that  it  is  surrounded  with  a 
ring  like  Saturn. 

Having  thus  travelled  from  the  centre  to  the 
verge  of  the  planetary  system, — from  the  efful 
gent  orb  of  day  to  that  almost  Cimmerian  twi 
light  where  Phoebus  could  scarcely  see  to  guide 
his  steeds,  let  us  ponder  awhile  over  the  star 
tling  yet  instructive  sights  which  we  have  en 
countered  in  our  course.  Adjoining  the  sun, 
we  find  Mercury  and  Venus,  with  days  and 
seasons  like  ours.  Upon  reaching  our  own 
planet,  we  recognize  in  it  the  same  general  fea 
tures,  but  we  find  it  larger  in  magnitude,  and 
possessing  the  additional  distinction  of  a  satel 
lite  and  a  race  of  living  beings  to  rejoice  in  the 
pre-eminence.  In  contrast  with  Mars,  our  earth 
still  maintains  its  superiority  both  in  size  and 
equipments ;  but,  upon  advancing  a  little  far 
ther  into  space,  our  pride  is  rebuked  and  our 
fears  evoked,  when  we  reach  the  part  of  our 
system  where  twenty-nine  asteroids,  relics  of  a 


DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  SOLAR  SYSTEM.     37 

once  mighty  planet,  (or  the  uncombined  portions 
of  what  might  have  been  a  planet,)  are  revolv 
ing  in  dissevered  orbits,  and  warning  the  vain 
astronomer  of  another  world  that  a  similar  fate 
may  await  his  own.  Dejected,  but  not  despair 
ing,  we  pass  onward,  and,  as  if  in  bright  con 
trast  with  the  confusion  and  desolation  we  have 
witnessed,  there  bursts  upon  our  sight  the  splen 
did  orb  of  Jupiter,  proudly  enthroned  amid  his 
attendant  satellites.  When  compared  with  so 
glorious  a  creation,  our  own  earth  dwindles  into 
insignificance.  It  is  no  longer  the  monarch  of 
the  planetary  throng,  and  we  blush  at  the  rec 
ollection  that  sovereigns  and  pontiffs,  and  even 
philosophers,  made  it  the  central  ball,  around 
which  the  Sun  and  Moon  and  planets,  and  even 
the  stars,  revolved  in  obsequious  subjection. 
The  dignity  of  being  the  seat  of  intellectual  and 
animal  life,  however,  still  seems  to  be  our  own ; 
and  if  our  globe  does  not  swell  so  largely  to  the 
eye,  or  shine  so  brightly  in  the  night,  it  has  yet 
been  the  seat  of  glorious  dynasties, — of  mighty 
empires, — of  heroes  that  have  bled  for  their 
country, — of  martyrs  who  have  died  for  their 
faith, — and  of  sages  who  have  unravelled  the 
4 


38  MORE  WORLDS  THAN  ONE. 

very  universe  we  are  surveying.  Pursuing  OUT 
outward  course,  a  new  wonder  is  presented  to 
us  in  the  gorgeous  appendages  of  Saturn,  en 
circled  with,  a  brilliant  ring,  and  with  eight 
moons,  for  the  use,  doubtless,  of  living  beings. 
Advancing  onwards,  we  encounter  Uranus,  with 
his  eight  pledges  that  he  is  the  seat  of  life  ;  and 
after  passing  the  new  planet  Neptune,  at  the 
frontier  of  our  system,  we  reach  what  is  the 
region,  and  what  may  be  regarded  as  the  home, 
of  comets. 

COMETS,  or  wandering  stars,  as  they  have 
been  called,  are  those  celestial  bodies  most  of 
which  appear  occasionally  only  within  the  limits 
of  the  Solar  system.  They  move  in  elliptical 
orbits,  in  one  of  the  foci  of  which  the  sun  is 
placed ;  but,  unlike  the  planets,  which  always 
move  from  west  to  east,  the  comets  revolve  in 
orbits  inclined  at  all  possible  angles,  and  move 
in  all  possible  directions.  The  movements  of 
the  six  or  seven  hundred  comets  which  have 
been  observed,  must  be  chiefly  executed  within 
that  vast  and  untenanted  region,  which  lies  be 
tween  the  nearest  known  fixed  star  and  the  orbit 
of  Neptune,  an  interval  equal  to  six  thousand 


DESCRIPTION  OF  THE   SOLAR  SYSTEM.     39 

times  the  distance  of  that  planet  from  the  sun, 
or  twenty -one  million  million  of  miles.  What 
is  their  occupation  there,  or  what  it  is  here, 
when  they  are  our  visitors,  we  cannot  venture  to 
guess.  That  they  do  not  perform  the  functions 
of  planets  is  obvious,  from  their  very  nature ; 
and  there  is  no  appearance  of  their  importing 
anything  useful  into  our  system,  or  of  their  ex 
porting  anything  to  another.  Judging  from 
the  immense  portion  of  their  orbits  which  lies 
beyond  Neptune,  it  has  been  imagined  that 
the  central  body  of  some  other  system  is  placed 
in  the  distant  focus  of  each  of  their  orbits,  and 
that  in  this  way  all  the  different  systems  in  the 
universe  are,  as  it  were,  united  into  one  by  the 
intercommunication  of  comets.  Some  comets 
have  passed  near  the  earth,  and  others  may  pass 
still  nearer  it ;  but  even  if  they  should  not  pro 
duce  those  tremendous  effects  which  Laplace  has 
indicated,  and  if  their  great  rarity  and  rapid 
motion  should  hinder  them  from  acting  upon 
our  seas,  or  changing  the  axis  of  our  globe,  a 
sweep  of  their  train  of  gas  or  of  vapor  would 
not  be  a  pleasing  salutation  to  living  beings. 
The  greatest  distance  of  the  most  distant  comet 


40  MORE   WORLDS   THAN  ONE. 

that  has  been  observed,  falls  short  of  the  distance 
of  the  nearest  fixed  star  by  nine  million  million 
of  miles.  Placing  ourselves  at  this  distance, 
how  ridiculous  appears  the  idea,  so  long  and 
devoutly  cherished,  that  the  heavens,  with  all 
their  host,  revolved  round  our  little  planet !  At 
that  point  the  earth  is  not  even  visible,  and  the 
whole  starry  creation,  and  our  sun  itself  dwin 
dled  into  a  star,  stand  fixed  and  immovable. 

Till  within  the  last  forty  years  it  was  the 
universal  belief  among  astronomers  that  every 
comet  strayed  far  beyond  the  limits  of  the  Solar 
system,  the  shortest  period  of  any  of  those  that 
had  been  observed  being  about  seventy  years, 
indicating  the  immense  distance  which  it  must 
have  traversed  beyond  the  orbit  of  Neptune.  In 
1818,  however,  M.  Pons  discovered  a  comet,  now 
called  JEncke's  Comet,  whose  period  was  not 
above  three  years  and  five  months,  and  whose 
orbit,  extending  inwards  as  far  as  that  of  Mer 
cury,  did  not  reach  beyond  the  orbit  of  Pallas. 
Other  five  comets,  whose  periods  are  5j,  54,  6£, 
7|,  and  16  years,  have  been  discovered  within 
the  limits  of  our  system.  Among  these  bodies, 
the  comet  of  Biela,  discovered  in  1826,  appeared 


DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  SOLAR  SYSTEM.       41 

to  separate  into  two  distinct  comets  with  parallel 
tails,  which  after  a  certain  time  resumed  its 
single  state.  M.  Damoiseau  having  predicted  that 
this  comet  would  pass  within  18,000  miles  of  a 
point  in  the  earth's  orbit,  the  publication  of  this 
fact  excited  such  an  alarm  in  Paris,  that  M. 
Arago  was  summoned  from  his  studies  to  allay 
the  terror  of  the  community.  The  fears  of  the 
people,  however,  will  not  appear  unreasonable, 
when  we  recollect  that  Sir  John  Herschel  has 
stated  that  the  orbit  of  this  comet  "  so  nearly 
intersects  that  of  the  earth,  that  an  actual  colli 
sion  is  not  impossible,  and  indeed  must  in  all 
likelihood  happen  in  the  lapse  of  some  millions 
of  years !" 

A  seventh  comet  belonging  to  our  system, 
called  LexeWs  Comet,  which  that  astronomer 
discovered  in  1770,  is  supposed  to  have  been 
lost,  as  it  ought  to  have  appeared  thirteen  times, 
and  has  not  been  seen  since  that  date.  It 
is  supposed  to  have  been  rendered  invisible  in 
1779  by  the  action  of  Jupiter,  but  in  what 
way  astronomers  have  not  been  able  to  de 
termine. 

The  following  popular  view  of  the  sizes  and 
4* 


42  MORE  WORLDS  THAN  ONE. 

distances  of  the  planets  which  compose  the  Solar 
system  has  been  given  by  Sir  John  Herschel : 

~.  Diameter  of 

orbit  in  feet. 

The  Sun,  -  -  a  Globe  two  feet  in  diameter,        0 

Mercury,  -  a  Mustard  Seed,  -        -        164 

Venus,  '  -  -  a  Pea,        -  284 

Earth,       -  -  a  larger  Pea,      -  -        -        430 

Mars,        -  -  a  large  pin's  head,  -         -        654 

Juno,  "] 

Ceres,  1000 

?Sft      3         [  Grains  of  Sand,        -        -          to 
Pallas  and         f  1 90ft 

the  other  25 

Asteroids, 

Jupiter,          an  Orange,  Half  a  mile. 

Saturn,  a  Small  Orange  One  mile  and  a  fifth. 

Uranus,          a  Cherry,  A  mile  and  a  half. 

Neptune,        a  Plum,  Two  miles  and  a  half. 


To  which  we  may  add, 

The  greatest  distance  of  a  Comet,  Eight  thousand  miles. 
Distance  of  nearest  Fixed  Star,       Fifteen  thousand  miles 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE  GEOLOGICAL  CONDITION  OF    THE    EARTH. 

IN  the  preceding  brief  description  of  the 
Solar  system,  we  see  distinctly  the  relation 
which  our  own  Earth  bears  to  the  other  planets, 
in  its  position,  its  form,  its  magnitude,  its  satel 
lite,  and  its  daily  and  annual  motions.  But 
though  a  comparison  of  these  properties  of  the 
earth,  which  constitute  what  may  be  called  its 
astronomical  condition,  with  the  analogous  prop 
erties  of  the  other  planets,  might  entitle  us  to 
ascribe  to  them  other  functions, — the  function, 
for  example,  of  supporting  inhabitants,  which 
the  earth  only  is  known  to  possess,  yet  our  ar 
gument  will  derive  new  strength,  and  we  shall 
be  prepared  to  meet  recent  objections,  by  tak 
ing  into  consideration  the  geological  structure  of 
the  earth,  and  the  properties  of  its  atmosphere, 
and  by  endeavoring  to  read  its  past  history  in 


44  MOEE  WORLDS  THAN  ONE. 

the  successive  steps  by  which  it  has  been  pre 
pared  as  a  residence  for  the  human  family. 

The  earth,  as  we  have  seen,  when  merely  ex 
amined  by  the  eye,  consists  of  land  and  water. 
The  land  is  composed  of  soils  of  various  kinds, 
and  of  stones  and  rocks  of  different  characters. 
It  is  formed  into  extensive  plains,  into  valleys 
excavated  apparently  by  rivers  or  water-courses, 
and  into  mountain  groups  and  mountain  ranges, 
rising  to  the  height  of  several  miles  above  the 
bed  of  the  ocean.  In  order  to  obtain  a  knowl 
edge  of  the  structure  of  the  earth,  geologists 
have  examined  with  the  greatest  care  its  soils 
and  its  rocks,  wherever  they  have  been  laid 
bare  by  natural  or  artificial  causes,  by  the  oper 
ation  of  the  miner,  or  the  road  engineer,  or  by 
the  action  of  rivers  or  of  the  sea ;  and  they  have 
thus  obtained  certain  general  results  which 
give  us  an  approximate  idea  of  the  different 
materials  which  compose  what  is  called  the 
crust  of  the  earth.  In  those  portions  of  its  sur 
face  which  do  not  rise  into  mountains,  the 
thickness  of  the  crust  thus  explored  does  not 
exceed  ten  miles,  which  is  only  the  800th  part 
of  the  earth's  diameter, — a  quantity  so  small, 


GEOLOGICAL  CONDITION  OF  THE  EARTH.   45 

that  if  we  represented  the  earth  by  a  sphere  hav 
ing  the  same  diameter  as  the  cupola  of  St. 
Paul's,  which  is  140  feet,  the  thickness  of  the 
crust  would  be  only  about  two  inches. 

Beneath  the  crust  lies  the  Nucleus  of  the 
earth,  or  its  kernel  or  its  skeleton  frame,  of  the 
nature  and  composition  of  which  we  are  entirely 
ignorant.  We  know  only,  by  comparing  the 
average  density  of  the  earth,  which  is  about  5£ 
times  that  of  water,  with  the  average  density  of 
the  rocks  near  its  surface,  which  is  about  2£ 
times  that  of  water,  that  the  density  of  the 
nucleus,  if  of  uniform  solidity,  must  exceed  5f, 
and  must  be  much  greater  if  it  is  hollow  or 
contains  large  cavities.  Geology  does  not  pre 
tend  to  give  us  any  information  respecting  the 
process  by  which  the  nucleus  of  the  earth  was 
formed.  Some  speculative  astronomers  indeed 
have  presumptuously  embarked  in  such  an  in 
quiry  ;  but  there  is  not  a  trace  of  evidence  that 
the  solid  nucleus  of  the  globe  was  formed  by 
secondary  causes,  such  as  the  aggregation  of 
attenuated  matter  diffused  through  space  ;  and 
the  nebular  theory,  as  it  has  been  called,  though 
maintained  by  a  few  distinguished  names,  has, 


46  MORE  WORLDS  THAN  ONE. 

x-* 

we  think,  been  overturned  by  arguments  that 
have  never  been  answered.  Sir  Isaac  Newton, 
in  his  four  celebrated  letters  to  Dr.  Bentley, 
has  demonstrated  that  the  planets  of  the  solar 
system  could  not  have  been  thus  formed,  and 
put  in  motion  round  a  central  sun. 

But  though  geologists  have  not  been  able  to 
give  us  any  intelligence  respecting  the  earth's 
nucleus,  they  have  examined  the  rocks  which 
rest  upon  it,  or  the  lowest  of  the  series  which 
extend,  upwards  to  the  surface  of  the  earth. 

I.  The  lowest  of  these  rocks  are  granite, 
granitic  rockSj  trap,  and  porphyry.  They  are 
composed  chiefly  of  the  simple  minerals,  Quartz, 
Feldspar,  Mica,  and  Horribknde.  They  are 
consequently  crystalline  and  unstratified,  and 
are  believed  to  be  of  igneous  origin. 

The  next  series  of  rocks  are  what  are  called 
the  Metamorphic  or  altered  rocks.  They  consist 
of  gneiss,  mica  slate,  and  clay  slate,  and  are 
more  or  less  stratified. 

The  next  series  of  rocks  is  Basalt,  or  ancient 
lava,  and  what  are  called  Trachytic  Eocks. 

To  these  rocks  the  name  of  Primary  has 


GEOLOGICAL  CONDITION  OF  THE  EARTH.  47 

been  given,  and  also  the  appellation  of  Azoic, 
because  they  contain  no  traces  of  plants  or  ani 
mals,  and  are  therefore  without  life,  01  destitute 
of  organic  remains. 

Above  these  formations  lie  the  Secondary 
and  the  Tertiary  formations. 

II.  The  Secondary  formations  have  been 
divided  by  Professor  Ansted  into  three  periods, 
the  Older,  the  Middle,  and  the  Newer  Sec 
ondary. 

1.  The  Older  Secondary  formation  he  again 
divides  into  the  Older  Palaeozoic  period, 
namely,  1.  The  Lower  Silurian  rocks, 
to  which  the  name  ofProtozoic  has  been 
given,  because  they  contain  the  first 
traces  of  life;  and,  2.  The  Upper  Si 
lurian  rocks,  the  Middle  Palaeozoic  pe 
riod,  containing  the  Devonian  or  Old 
Bed  Sandstone  formation ;  and 
The  Newer  Palaeozoic  period,  including, 

1.  The   Carboniferous  formation ;   and, 

2.  The  Magnesian  Limestone,   or   Per 
mian  formation,  and  above  these  strata 
lie— 


48  MORE  WORLDS  THAN  ONE. 

The  Upper  New  Bed  Sandstone  or  Triassic 
formation,  the  last  member  of  the  older 
secondary  period. 

2.  The  Middle  secondary  formation,  con 
sists  of  the  Lias,    Oolite,  and   Wealden 
formations ;  and, 

3.  The  Newer  secondary  period  consists  of 
the  Cretaceous  or  chalk  formation. 

III.  The  Tertiary  formation  consists,  reckon 
ing  from  below,  of, — 

1.  The  older  tertiary,  or  Eocene,  viz.,  Bag- 
shot  sand  and  London  clay. 

2.  The  middle  tertiary,  or  Miocene,  viz.,  Red 
and  Coralline  Rag. 

3.  The  newer  tertiary,  or  Pliocene,  viz.,  the 
Till  of  Clyde  and  Norwich  Crag. 

4.  The  superficial  deposits,  or  Pleistocene, 
viz.,  all  diluvial  and  alluvial  deposits  of 
gravel  and  other  materials,  sometimes 
stratified. 

The  proportional  thicknesses  of  these  different 
formations  have  been  estimated  by  Professor 


GEOLOGICAL  CONDITION  OF  THE  EAKTH.   49 

Phillips  as  follows,  but  the  numbers  can  be 
regarded  only  as  a  very  rude  estimate  : — 


Tertiary  formation, 
Cretaceous, 
Oolite  and  Lias,  . 
New  Red  Sandstone, 
Carboniferous, 
Old  Red  Sandstone, 
Primitive  Roeks, 


2,000  feet 

1,100  " 

2,500  " 

2,000  " 

10,000  " 

9,000  " 

20,000  " 


Thickness  of  the  Earth's  crust,  46,600=9  miles  nearly. 

As  all  the  stratified  formations  which  compose 
the  crust  of  the  earth  have  obviously  been  de 
posited  in  succession,  geologists  have  endeavor^ 
ed  to  form  some  notion  of  the  time  occupied  in 
their  deposition,  or  the  age  of  the  most  ancient 
of  them.  By  studying  the  fossil  remains  found 
in  the  different  formations,  geologists  have 
placed  it  beyond  a  doubt,  that  great  changes 
have  taken  place  during  the  formation  of  the 
crust  of  the  earth.  The  plants  and  animals 
which  existed  in  one  period  are  not  found  in 
another, — new  species  were  at  different  times 
created, — and  frequent  convulsions  have  taken 
place,  upheaving  the  beds  of  the  ocean  into 
continents  and  mountain  ranges,  and  covering 
the  dry  land  with  the  waters  which  were  dis- 
5 


50  MORE  WORLDS  THAN  ONE, 

placed.  That  the  deposition  of  strata  of  such 
thickness,  and  operations  of  such  magnitude, 
required  a  long  period  of  time  for  their  accom 
plishment,  has  been  willingly  conceded  to  the 
geologist ;  but  this  concession  has  been  found 
ed  on  the  adoption  of  a  unit  of  measure  which 
may  or  may  not  be  correct.  It  is  taken  for 
granted,  that  many  of  the  stratified  rocks  were 
deposited  in  the  sea  by  the  same  slow  processes 
which  are  going  on  in  the  present  day  ;  and  as 
the  thickness  of  the  deposits  now  produced  is 
a  very  small  quantity  during  a  long  period  of 
time,  it  is  inferred  that  nine  or  ten  miles  of  strata 
must  have  taken  millions  of  years  for  their  for 
mation. 

We  are  not  disposed  to  grudge  the  geologist 
even  periods  so  marvellous  as  this,  provided 
they  are  considered  as  merely  hypothetical; 
but  when  we  find,  as  we  shall  presently  do, 
that  speculative  writers  employ  these  assumed 
periods  as  positive  truths,  for  establishing  other 
theories  which  we  consider  erroneous,  and  even 
dangerous,  we  are  compelled  to  examine  more 
minutely  a  chronology  which  has  been  thus 
misapplied. 


GEOLOGICAL  CONDITION  OF  THE  EARTH.      51 

Although,  we  may  admit  that  our  seas  and 
continents  have  nearly  the  same  locality,  and 
cover  nearly  the  same  area  as  they  did  at  the 
creation  of  Adam ;  and  that  the  hills  have  not 
since  that  time  changed  their  form  or  their 
height ;  nor  the  beds  of  the  ocean  become  deeper 
or  shallower  from  the  diurnal  changes  going  on 
around  us, — yet  this  does  not  authorize  us  to 
conclude  that  the  world  was  prepared  for  man 
by  similar  causes  operating  in  a  similar  manner. 
The  same  physical  causes  may  operate  quickly 
or  slowly.  The  dew  may  fall  invisibly  on  the 
ground, — the  gentle  shower  may  descend  noise 
less  on  the  grass, — or  the  watery  vapor  may  rush 
down  in  showers  and  torrents  of  rain,  destroy 
ing  animal  and  vegetable  life.  The  frozen  mois 
ture  may  fall  in  atoms  of  crystal,  which  are  felt 
only  by  the  tender  skin  upon  which  they  light ; 
or  it  may  come  down  in  flakes  of  snow,  forming 
beds  many  feet  in  thickness ;  or  it  may  be  preci 
pitated  in  destructive  hailstones,  or  in  masses  of 
ice  which  crush  everything  upon  which  they  fall. 

When  the  earth  was  completed  as  the  home  4 
of  the  human  family,  violent  changes  upon  its 
surface  were  incompatible  with  the  security  of  { 


52  MOKE  WORLDS  THAN  ONE. 

life,  and  the  progress  of  civilization.  The  powers 
/  of  the  physical  world  were  therefore  put  under 
restraint,  when  man  obtained  dominion  over  the 
earth ;  and  after  the  great  catastrophe  wh;ch 
destroyed  almost  every  living  thing,  the  "bow 
was  set  in  the  clouds/'  a  covenant,  between  God 
and  man,  that  the  elements  should  not  again  be 
his  destroyer.  If  the  Almighty  then,  since  the 
creation  of  man,  "  broke  up  the  fountains  of  the 
deep,  and  opened  the  windows  of  the  heavens," 
and  thus,  by  apparently  natural  causes,  covered 
the  whole  earth  with  an  ocean  that  rose  above 
the  Himalaya  and  the  Andes, — why  may  He 
not  at  different  periods,  or  during  the  whole 
course  of  the  earth's  formation,  have  deposited 
its  strata  by  a  rapid  precipitation  of  their  atoms 
from  the  waters  which  suspended  them  ?  The 
period  of  the  earth's  formation  would,  upon  this 
principle,  be  reduced  to  little  more  than  the  uni 
ted  generations  of  the  different  orders  of  plants 
and  animals  which  constitute  its  organic  remains. 
But  even  the  period  thus  computed  from  the 
supposed  duration  of  animal  life  may  be  still 
farther  shortened.  Plants  and  animals  which, 
in  our  day,  require  a  century  for  their  de- 

I 


GEOLOGICAL  CONDITION  OF  THE  EARTH.      53 

/ 

velopment,  may  in  primitive  times  have  shot 
up  in  rank  luxuriance,  and  been  ready,  in  a 
few  days,  or  months,  or  years,  for  the  great  pur 
pose  of  exhibiting,  by  their  geological  distri 
bution,  the  progressive  formation  of  the  earth. 
There  are  other  points,  in  geological  theory, 
which,  though  mere  inferences  from  a  very 
limited  number  of  facts,  have  been  employed,  as 
if  they  were  absolutely  true,  to  support  erroneous 
and  dangerous  theories ;  and  but  for  this  misap 
plication  of  them  we  should  not  have  called  in 
question  opinions  in  themselves  reasonable  only 
when  viewed  as  probable  truths.  The  geological 
inference  to  which  we  allude  is,  that  man  did  not 
exist  during  the  period  of  the  earth's  formation. 
No  work  of  human  skill — no  fragment  of  the 
skeleton — no  remains  of  the  integuments  of 
man  have  been  found  among  the  plants  and 
animals  which  occupy  the  graves  of  primaeval 
times.  If  it  be  quite  certain,  or  rather  suffi 
ciently  credible,  which  we  think  it  is,  that  all 
the  formations  with  fossil  remains  were  depos 
ited  before  the  advent  of  Adam,  it  is  barely 
possible  that  pre-adamite  races  may  have  inhab 
ited  the  earth  simultaneously  with  the  animals 
which  characterize  its  different  formations.  But 

5* 


54  MOEE  WOKLDS  THAN"  ONE. 

though  possible,  and  to  a  certain  extent  available, 
as  the  basis  of  an  argument  against  a  startling 
theory,  we  cannot  admit  its  probability.  Man, 
as  now  constituted,  could  not  have  lived  amidst 
the  storms  and  earthquakes  and  eruptions  of  a 
world  in  the  act  of  formation.  His  timid  nature 
would  have  quailed  under  the  multifarious  con 
vulsions  around  him.  The  thunder  of  a  boiling 
and  tempest-driven  ocean  would  have  roused 
him  from  his  couch,  as  its  waters  rushed  upon 
him  at  midnight :  Torrents  of  lava  oif^mud 
would  have  chased  him  from  his  hearth ;  and 
if  he  escaped  the  pestilence  from  animal  and 
vegetable  death,  the  vapor  of  the  subterranean 
alembics  would  have  suffocated  him  in  the  open 
air.  The  house  of  the  child  of  civilization  was 
not  ready  for  his  reception.  The  stones  that 
were  to  build  and  roof  it,  had  not  quitted  their 
native  beds.  The  coal  that  was  to  light  and 
heat  it,  was  either  green  in  the  forest,  or  black 
ening  in  the  storehouse  of  the  deep.  The  iron 
that  was  to  defend  him  from  external  violence, 
lay  buried  in  the  ground ;  and  the  rich  materials 
of  civilization,  the  gold,  the  silver,  and  the  gems, 
even  if  they  were  ready,  had  not  been  cast  within 
his  reach,  from  the  hollow  of  the  Creator's  hand. 


GEOLOGICAL  CONDITION  OF  THE  EARTH.     55 

But  if  man  could  have  existed  amid  catas 
trophes  so  tremendous  and  privations  so  severe, 
his  presence  was  not  required,  for  his  intellectul 
powers  could  have  had  no  suitable  employment. 
Creation  was  the  field  on  which  his  industry  was 
to  be  exercised  and  his  genius  unfolded ;  and 
that  Divine  reason  which  was  to  analyze  and 
combine  would  have  sunk  into  sloth  before  the 
elements  of  matter  were  let  loose  from  their 
prison-house,  and  Nature  had  cast  them  in  her 
mould.  But  though  there  was  no  specific  time 
in  this  vast  chronology  which  we  could  fix  as 
appropriate  for  the  appearance  of  man,  yet  we 
now  perceive  that  he  entered  with  dignity  at  its 
close.  When  the  sea  was  gathered  into  one 
place,  and  the  dry  land  appeared,  a  secure  foot 
ing  was  provided  for  our  race.  "When  the  waters 
above  the  firmament  were  separated  from  the 
waters  below  it,  and  when  the  light  which  ruled 
the  day,  and  the  light  which  ruled  the  night, 
were  displayed  in  the  azure  sky,  man  could  look 
upward  into  the  infinite  in  space,  as  he  looked 
downward  into  the  infinite  in  time.  When  the 
living  creature  after  his  kind  appeared  in  the 
fields,  and  the  seed-bearing  herb  covered  the 


56  MORE  WORLDS  THAN  ONE. 

earth,  human  genius  was  enabled  to  estimate  the 
power,  and  wisdom,  and  bounty  of  its  Author, 
and  human  labor  received  and  accepted  its 
commission,  when  it  was  declared  from  on  high 
that  seed-time  and  harvest  should  never  cease 
upon  the  earth. 

But  though  we  think  it  probable  from  these 
considerations,  that  intellectual  races  could  not 
occupy  the  earth  during  its  formation,  yet  we 
know  not  what  disclosures  might  be  made  had 
we  the  power  of  examining  the  whole  of  the 
strata  which  girdle  the  earth.  The  dry  land 
upon  our  globe  occupies  only  one-fourth  of  its 
whole  superficies — all  the  rest  is  sea.  How  much 
of  tlnis  fourth  part  have  geologists  been  able  to 
examine  ?  and  how  small  seems  to  be  the  area 
of  stratification  which  has  been  explored  ?  We 
venture  to  say  not  one-fiftieth  part  of  the  whole, 
and  yet  upon  the  results  of  so  partial  a  survey, 
there  has  been  founded  a  startling  generaliza 
tion.  The  intellectual  races,  if  they  did  exist, 
must  have  lived  at  a  distance  from  the  ferocious 
animals  that  may  have  occupied  the  seas  and 
the  jungles  of  the  ancient  world,  and  conse 
quently  their  remains  could  not  have  been  found 


GEOLOGICAL  CONDITION  OF  THE  EARTH.    57 

in  the  ordinary  fossiliferous  strata.  Their  dwel 
ling-place  may  have  been  in  one  or  more  of  the 
numerous  localities  of  our  continents  not  yet 
explored,  or  in  those  immense  regions  of  the 
earth  which  are  now  covered  by  the  great  oceans 
of  the  globe ;  and  till  these  oceans  have  quitted 
their  beds,  or  some  great  convulsions  have  up 
heaved  and  laid  bare  the  strata  above  which  the 
races  in  question  may  have  lived  and  died,  we 
are  not  entitled  to  maintain  it  as  a  demonstrated 
truth,  that  the  ancient  earth  was  under  the  sole 
dominion  of  the  brutes  that  perish. 

But  without  waiting  for  the  result  of  catas 
trophes  like  these,  the  future  of  geology,  even 
if  restricted  to  existing  continents  and  islands, 
may  be  pregnant  with  startling  discoveries,  and 
the  remains  of  intellectual  races  may  be  found 
even  beneath  the  primitive  Azoic  formations 
of  the  earth.  The  astronomers  of  the  pres 
ent  day  have  penetrated  far  into  the  celestial 
depths,  compared  with  those  of  the  preceding 
age, — descrying  in  the  remotest  space  glorious 
creations,  and  establishing  mighty  laws.  Like 
them,  may  not  geologists  descend  deeper  into 
the  abyss  beneath,  and  discover  in  caverns  yet 


58  MORE  WOELDS   THAN  ONE. 

unexplored  the  upheaved  cemeteries  of  primoi 
dial  times.  The  earth  has  yet  to  surrender  its 
strongholds  of  gigantic  secrets, — and  startling 
revelations  are  yet  to  be  read  on  sepulchres  of 
stone.  It  is  not  from  that  distant  bourne  where 
.  the  last  ray  of  starlight  trembles  on  the  tele 
scopic  eye  that  man  is  to  receive  the  great  secret 
of  the  world's  birth,  or  of  his  future  destiny.  It 
is  from  the  deep  vaults  to  which  primaeval  life 
has  been  consigned  that  the  history  of  the  dawn 
of  life  is  to  be  composed.  Geologists  have  read 
that  chronology  back  wards,  and  are  decyphering 
downwards  its  pale  and  perishing  alphabet. 
They  have  reached  the  embryos  of  vegetable 
existence,  the  probable  terminus  of  the  formation 
which  has  buried  them.  But  wh6  can  tell  what 
sleeps  beyond!  Another  creation  may  lie  be 
neath — more  glorious  creatures  may  be  entomb 
ed  there.  The  mortal  coils  of  beings  more  love 
ly,  more  pure,  more  divine  than  man,  may  yet 
read  to  us  the  unexpected  lesson  that  we  have 
not  been  the  first,  and  may  not  be  the  last  of 
the  intellectual  race. 

In  order  to  compare  the  condition  of  the 
earth  with  that  of  the  moon  and  the   other 


GEOLOGICAL  CONDITION  OF  THE  EARTH.    59 

planets  of  the  Solar  system,  we  must  know 
something  of  its  atmosphere,  of  its  action  in 
refracting,  reflecting,  and  polarizing  light,  and 
of  the  phenomena  which  it  will  exhibit  to  other 
planets  in  its  various  states,  as  modified  by  the 
aqueous  vapor  which  it  contains,  whether  it- 
exists  in  minute  vesicles,  or  in  masses  of  clouds. 
The  light  reflected  by  the  atmosphere,  when  in 
its  purest  state,  is  a  rich  blue,  becoming  paler 
and  paler  as  the  aqueous  vapor  is  increased. 
When  the  light  of  the  sun  reaches  the  eye,  after 
having  been  transmitted  through  great  lengths 
of  the  earth's  atmosphere,  it  is  bright  red,  pass 
ing  into  orange  and  yellow  when  the  length  of 
its  path  is  diminished.  Considering,  then,  the 
diversity  of  climate  in  any  one  hemisphere  of 
the  globe,  it  is  hardly  possible  that  the  earth, 
as  seen  from  any  given  point  in  space,  could 
appear  free  from  clouds.  When  the  sky  is  blue 
over  large  portions  of  the  tropical  regions,  and 
smaller  portions  of  the  temperate  and  arctic 
zones,  it  is  elsewhere  covered  with  fleecy  clouds, 
or  throwing  down  its  superabundant  vapors  in 
rain,  or  hail,  or  snow.  The  banks  of  fleecy 
clouds  will  reflect  a  brilliant  light  to  the  distant 


60  MORE  WORLDS  THAN  ONE. 

eye,  while  the  pure  air  will  exhibit  the  color 
of  the  land,  or  of  the  ocean,  mixed  with  its  own 
native  tint  of  blue ;  and,  in  certain  positions  of 
the  sun,  the  red  beams  into  which  his  pure  rays 
have  been  changed  by  absorption,  will  display 
themselves  in  certain  parts  of  the  terrestrial  disc. 
When  the  Earth,  therefore,  is  reduced  by  dis 
tance  to  the  apparent  size  of  Mars  and  Jupiter, 
it  will  exhibit  a  tint  composed  of  all  those  which 
we  have  described. 

When  the  blue  light  of  the  sky,  and  the  re 
flected  light  of  the  clouds,  are  examined  by  an 
observer  on  the  surface  of  the  earth,  it  is  found 
to  be  polarized,  like  the  light  which  is  reflected 
from  the  surfaces  of  transparent  bodies  ;*  and, 
therefore,  a  greater  or  less  portion  of  the  light 
which  reaches  the  eye  of  an  observer,  placed  on 
another  planet,  must  be  polarized,  and  exhibit 
all  the  properties  of  that  species  of  light.  We 
thus  obtain  a  certain  test  of  the  existence  of 
water  in  the  other  planets  of  the  system,  and 
we  are  enabled  to  ascertain  the  truth  of  certain 
speculations  respecting  their  condition,  which 
affect  the  question  of  a  plurality  of  worlds. 

*  See  Johnston's  Physical  Atlaa. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

ANALOGY  BETWEN  THE  EAKTH  AND  THE  OTHER 
PLANETS. 

WITH  the  information  contained  in  the  pre 
ceding  chapter,  respecting  the  structure  of  the 
earth  and  its  atmosphere,  we  are  now  in  a  con 
dition  to  compare  it  as  an  inhabited  world  with 
the  other  planets  of  our  system,  and  to  ascer 
tain,  from  the  analogies  which  exist  between 
them,  to  what  extent  it  is  probable  that  they 
are  either  inhabited,  or  in  a  state  of  prepara 
tion,  as  the  earth  once  was,  for  the  reception  of 
inhabitants. 

In  making  this  comparison,  the  first  point 
which  demands  our  attention  is  the  position 
which  the  earth  occupies  in  the  Solar  system. 
In  reference  to  the  number  of  the  planets,  which 
is  nine,  reckoning  the  asteriods  as  one,  Jupiter 
is  the^i/%,  or  middle  planet,  and  is  otherwise 
6 


62  MOKE  WORLDS  THAN  ONE. 

highly  distinguished.  Our  earth,  therefore,  is 
neither  the  middle  planet  nor  the  planet  nearest 
the  sun,  nor  the  planet  farthest  from  that  lumin 
ary.  In  reference  to  the  light  and  heat  which 
the  planets  receive  from  the  sun,  the  Earth  has 
neither  the  warmest,  nor  the  middle,  nor  the 
coldest  place.  "With  respect  to  the  number  of 
moons  or  satelites,  the  only  uses  of  which  that 
we  know,  is  to  give  light  to  the  planet,  and  pro 
duce  tides  in  its  seas,  the  Earth  has  the  lowest 
number,  all  the  planets  exterior  to  it  having  a 
larger  number.  If  we  compare  it  with  the 
other  planets  in  reference  to  their  size,  their 
form,  their  density,  the  length  of  their  year, 
the  length  of  their  day,  the  eccentricity  of 
their  orbits,  we  shall  find  that  in  all  these  cases 
the  earth  is  not  in  any  respect  distinguished 
above  the  rest.  Hence  we  are  entitled  to 
conclude  that  the  Earth,  as  a  planet,  has  no 
pre-eminence  in  the  Solar  system  to  induce  us 
to  believe  that  it  is  the  only  inhabited  world,  or 
has  any  claim  to  be  peculiarly  favored  by  the 
Creator. 

In  order  to  show  the  high  probability  that 
the  other  planets  are  either  inhabited,  or  in  a 


THE  EAKTH  AND  THE  OTHER  PLANETS.  63 

state  of  preparation  for  the  reception  of  inhab 
itants,  we  shall  now  proceed  to  compare  the 
Earth  with  the  planet  Jupiter,  one  of  the  planets 
farther  from  the  sun  than  ours,  and  then  with 
Venus,  one  of  the  planets  nearer  the  sun, — these 
planets  representing  the  two  groups  into  which 
the  system  may  be  divided. 

The  diameter  of  Jupiter  being  87,000  miles, 
and  that  of  the  Earth  7,926,  the  relative  size  or 
bulk  of  the  two  planets  will  be  proportional  to 
the  squares  of  these  numbers.  Hence  the  size 
or  bulk  of  Jupiter  is  1,200  times  greater  than 
that  of  the  Earth,  and  this  alone  is  a  proof  that 
it  must  have  been  made  for  some  grand  and 
useful  purpose.  Like  the  Earth  it  is  flattened 
at  its  poles,  and  it  revolves  round  its  axis  in 
9h  56m,  which  is  the  length  of  its  day.  It  en 
joys  different  climates,  and  different  seasons  in 
its  year ;  but,  what  especially  demands  our  at 
tention,  it  is  illuminated  by  four  moons,  capa 
ble  of  supplying  it  with  abundance  of  light 
during  the  short  absence  of  the  sun.  Owing  to 
the  small  inclination  of  Jupiter's  axis  to  the 
plane  of  its  orbit,  which  is  only  about  three 
degrees,  there  is  so  little  change  in  the  temper 


64  MORE  WORLDS  THAN  ONE. 

ature  of  its  seasons,  that  it  may  be  said  to  enjoy 
a  perpetual  spring.  The  rotation  of  the  Earth 
about  its  axis  produces  currents  in  its  atmos 
phere  parallel  to  the  equator,  which  have  re 
ceived  the  name  of  the  trade  winds.  On  the 
surface  of  Jupiter  astronomers  have  observed 
streaks  or  belts  to  the  number  of  thirty,  some 
of  which  extend  to  a  great  distance  from  its 
equator.  Large  spots,  which  change  their  form, 
have  also  been  frequently  seen  upon  Jupiter. 
M.  Madler,  by  whom  these  observations  have 
been  chiefly  made,  is  of  opinion,  that  owing  to 
the  length  of  Jupiter's  year,  and  the  small 
change  which  takes  place  in  the  seasons,  the 
masses  of  clouds  in  his  atmosphere  have  their 
form,  position,  and  arrangement  more  perma 
nent  than  those  in  the  atmosphere  of  the  Earth, 
and  he  thinks  it  probable  that  the  inhabitants 
in  latitudes  greater  than  40°  may  never  see  the 
firmanent. 

The  satellites  of  Jupiter  afford  him  perpetual 
moonlight.  They  suffer  eclipses  like  our  moon 
when  they  encounter  his  huge  shadow,  and  they 
frequently  eclipse  the  sun  when  they  pass  be 
tween  him  and  the  planet.  These  satellites 


THE  EAETH  AND  THE  OTHER  PLANETS.  65 

afford  to  tlieir  primary  planet  four  months  of 
different  lengths,  one  of  which  is  four  Jovian 
days,  and  the  next  eight,  seventeen,  and  forty 
days  respectively. 

With  so  many  striking  points  of  resemblance 
between  the  Earth  and  Jupiter,  the  unprejudiced 
mind  cannot  resist  the  conclusion  that  Jupiter 
has  been  created  like  the  Earth  for  the  express 
purpose  of  being  the  seat  of  animal  and  intel 
lectual  life.  The  Atheist  and  the  Infidel,  the 
Christian  and  the  Mahometan, — men  of  all 
creeds  and  nations  and  tongues, — the  philoso 
pher  and  the  unlettered  peasant,  have  all  re 
joiced  in  this  universal  truth ;  and  we  do  not 
believe  that  any  individual,  who  confides  in  the 
facts  of  astronomy,  seriously  rejects  it.  If  such 
a  person  exists,  we  would  gravely  ask  him  for 
what  purpose  could  so  gigantic  a  world  have 
been  framed.  Why  does  the  sun  give  it  days 
and  nights  and  years  ?  Why  do  its  moons  throw 
their  silver  light  upon  its  continents  and  its  seas? 
Why  do  its  equatorial  breezes  blow  perpetually 
over  its  plains  ?  unless  to  supply  the  wants,  and 
administer  to  the  happiness  of  living  beings. 
In  studying  this  subject,persons  who  have  only 
6* 


66  MORE  WORLDS  THAN  ONE. 

a  superficial  knowledge  of  astronomy,  though 
firmly  believing  in  a  plurality  of  worlds,  have 
felt  the  force  of  certain  objections,  or  rather 
difficulties,  which  naturally  present  themselves 
to  the  inquirer.  The  distance  of  Jupiter  from 
the  sun  is  so  great  that  the  light  and  heat 
which  he  receives  from  that  luminary  is  sup 
posed  to  be  incapable  of  sustaining  the  same 
animal  and  vegetable  life  which  exists  on  the 
Earth.  If  we  consider  the  heat  upon  any  planet 
as  arising  solely  from  the  direct  rays  of  the  sun, 
the  cold  upon  Jupiter  must  be  very  intense, 
and  water  could  not  exist  upon  its  surafce  in  a 
fluid  state.  Its  rivers  and  its  seas  must  be 
tracks  and  fields  of  ice.  But  the  temperature  of 
a  planet  depends  upon  other  causes,- — upon  the 
condition  of  its  atmosphere,  and  upon  the  inter 
nal  heat  of  its  mass.  The  temperature  of  our 
own  globe  decreases  as  we  rise  in  the  atmos 
phere,  and  approach  the  sun,  and  it  increases 
as  we  descend  into  the  bowels  of  the  Earth  and 
go  farther  from,  the  sun.  In  the  first  "of  these 
cases,  the  increase  of  heat  as  we  approach  the 
surface  of  the  Earth  from  a  great  height  in  a 
balloon,  or  from  the  summit  of  a  lofty  moun 


THE  EARTH  AND  THE  OTHER  PLANETS.  67 

tain,  is  produced-  by  its  atmosphere;  and  in 
Jupiter  the  atmosphere  may  be  so  formed  as  to 
compensate  to  a  certain  extent  the  diminution 
in  the  direct  heat  of  the  sun  arising  from  the 
great  distance  of  the  planet.  In  the  second 
case,  the  internal  heat  of  Jupiter  may  be  such 
as  to  keep  its  rivers  and  seas  in  a  fluid  state, 
and  maintain  a  temperature  sufficiently  genial 
to  sustain  the  same  animal  and  vegetable  life 
which  exists  upon  our  own  globe. 

These  arrangements,  however,  if  they  are 
required,  and  have  been  adopted,  cannot  con 
tribute  to  increase  the  feeble  light  which  Jupiter 
receives  from  the  sun;  but  in  so  far  as  the 
purposes  of  vision  are  concerned,  an  enlarge 
ment  of  the  pupil  of  the  eye,  and  an  increased 
sensibility  of  the  retina,  would  be  amply  suffi 
cient  to  make  the  sun's  light  as  brilliant  as  it 
is  to  us.  The  feeble  light  reflected  from  the 
moons  of  Jupiter  would  then  be  equal  to  that 
which  we  derive  from  our  own,  even  if  we  do 
not  adopt  the  hypothesis,  which  we  shall  after 
wards  have  occasion  to  mention,  that  a  brilliant 
phosphorescent  light  may  be  excited  in  the 
satellites  by  the  action  of  the  solar  rays. 


68  MORE  WORLDS  THAN  ONE. 

Another  difficulty  lias  presented  itself,  though 
very  unnecessarily,  in  reference  to  the  shortness 
of  the  day  in  Jupiter.  A  day  of  ten  hours  has 
been  supposed  insufficient  to  afford  that  period 
of  rest  which  is  requisite  for  the  renewal  of  our 
physical  functions  when  exhausted  with  the 
labors  of  the  day.  This  objection,  however, 
has  no  force.  Five  hours  of  rest  is  surely  suffi 
cient  for  five  hours  of  labour ;  and  when  the 
inhabitants  of  the  temperate  zone  of  our  own 
globe  reside,  as  many  of  them  have  done,  for 
years  in  the  arctic  regions,  where  the  length 
of  the  days  and  nights  are  so  unusual,  they 
have  been  able  to  perform  their  functions  as 
well  as  in  their  native  climates. 

A  difficulty,  however,  of  a  more  serious  kind  is 
presented  by  the  great  force  of  gravity  upon  so 
gigantic  a  planet  as  Jupiter.  The  stems  of 
plants,  the  materials  of  buildings,  the  human 
body  itself,  would,  it  is  imagined,  be  crushed  by 
their  own  enormous  weight.  This  apparently 
formidable  objection  will  be  removed  by  an  ac 
curate  calculation  of  the  force  of  gravity  upon 
Jupiter,  or  of  the  relative  weight  of  bodies  on 
its  surface.  The  mass  of  Jupiter  is  1230  times 


THE  EARTH  AND  THE  OTHEK  PLANETS.   69 

greater  than  that  of  the  Earth,  so  that  if  both 
planets  consisted  of  the  same  kind  of  matter,  a 
man  weighing  150  pounds  on  the  surface  of 
the  Earth  would  weigh  150x1200,  or  180,000 
pounds  at  a  distance  from  Jupiter's  centre  equal 
to  the  Earth's  radius.  But  as  Jupiter's  radius 
is  eleven  times  greater  than  that  of  the  Earth, 
the  weight  of  bodies  on  his  surface  will  be  dim 
inished  in  the  ratio  of  the  square  of  his  radius, 
that  is,  in  the  ratio  of  11x11,  or  121  to  1. 
Consequently,  if  we  divide  180,000  pounds  by 
121,  we  shall  have  1487  pounds  as  the  weight 
of  a  man  of  150  pounds  on  the  surface  of 
Jupiter,  that  is  less  than  ten  times  his  weight 
on  the  earth.  But  the  matter  of  Jupiter  is 
much  lighter  than  the  matter  of  our  Earth,  in 
the  ratio  of  24  to  100,  the  numbers  which  re 
present  the  densities  of  the  two  planets,  so  that 
if  we  diminish  1487  pounds  in  the  ratio  of  24 
to  400,  or  divide  it  by  417,  we  shall  have  312 
pounds  as  the  weight  of  a  man  on  Jupiter,  who 
weighs  on  the  Earth  only  150  pounds,  that  is, 
only  double  his  weight — a  difference  which  ac 
tually  exists  between  many  individuals  on  our 
own  planet.  A  man,  therefore  constituted  like 


70  MOKE  WORLDS  THAN  ONE. 

ourselves,  could  exist  without  inconvenience 
upon  Jupiter  ;  and  plants,  and  trees,  and  build 
ings,  such  as  occur  in  our  own  Earth,  could 
grow  and  stand  secure  in  so  far  as  the  force  of 
gravity  is  concerned. 

In  removing  difficulties,  and  answering  ob 
jections  such  as  these,  we  have  conceded  too 
much  to  the  limited  conceptions  of  the  persons 
who  have  felt  the  one  and  adduced  the  other. 
To  assume  that  the  inhabitants  of  the  planets 
must  necessarily  be  either  men  or  anything 
resembling  them,  is  to  have  a  low  opinion  of 
that  infinite  skill  which  has  produced  such  a 
variety  in  the  form  and  structure  and  functions 
of  vegetable  and  animal  life.  In  the  various 
races  of  man  which  occupy  our  globe,  there  is 
not  the  same  variety  which  is  exhibited  in  the 
brutes  that  perish.  Although  the  noble  Anglo- 
Saxon  stands  in  striking  contrast  with  the 
Negro,  and  the  lofty  Patagonian  with  the  dim 
inutive  Esquimaux,  yet  in  their  general  form 
and  structure,  they  are  essentially  the  same  in 
their  physical  and  in  their  mental  powers.  But 
when  we  look  into  the  world  of  instinct,  and 
survey  the  infinitely  varied  forms  which  people 


THE   EAKTH  AtfD  THE   OTfiER  PLANETS.    71 

the  earth,  the  ocean,  and  the  air; — when  we 
range  with  the  naturalist's  eye  from  the  elephant 
to  the  worm — from  the  leviathan  to  the  infu* 
soria — and  from  the  eagle  to  the  ephemeron, 
what  beauty  of  form — what  diversity  of  function 
•—what  variety  of  purpose  is  exhibited  to  our 
view !  In  all  these  forms  of  being,  reason  might 
have  been  given  in  place  of  instinct,  and  ani 
mals  the  most  hostile  to  man,  and  the  most 
alien  to  his  habits,  might  have  been  his  friend 
and  his  auxiliary,  in  place  of  his  enemy  and  his 
prey.  If  we  carry  our  scrutiny  deeper  into 
nature,  and  survey  the  infinity  of  regions  of  life 
which  the  microscope  discloses,  and  if  we  con 
sider  what  other  breathing  worlds  lie  far  beyond 
even  its  reach,  we  may  then  comprehend  the 
variety  of  intellectual  life  with  which  our  own 
planets  and  those  of  other  systems  may  be 
peopled.  Is  it  necessary  that  an  immortal  soul 
should  be  hung  upon  a  skeleton  of  bone,  or  im 
prisoned  in  a  cage  of  cartilage  and  of  skin  ? 
Must  it  see  with  two  eyes,  and  hear  with  two 
ears,  and  touch  with  ten  fingers,  and  rest  on  a 
duality  of  lirnbs  ?  May  it  not  reside  in  a  Poly 
phemus  with  one  eyeball,  or  in  an  Argus  with 


72  MOKE   WORLDS  THAN   ONE. 

a  hundred?  May  it  not  reign  in  the  giant 
forms  of  the  Titans,  and  direct  the  hundred 
hands  of  Briareus  ?  But  setting  aside  the  un 
gainly  creations  of  mythology,  how  many  prob 
able  forms  are  there  of  beauty,  and  activity, 
and  strength,  which  even  the  painter,  the 
sculptor,  and  the  poet  could  assign  to  the  phy 
sical  casket  in  which  the  diamond  spirit  may 
be  enclosed ;  how  many  possible  forms  are  there, 
beyond  their  invention,  which  eye  hath  not  seen, 
nor  the  heart  of  man  conceived  ? 

But  no  less  varied  may  be  the  functions  which 
the  citizens  of  the  spheres  have  to  discharge, — 
no  less  diversified  their  modes  of  life, — and 
no  less  singular  the  localities  in  which  they 
dwell.  If  this  little  world  demands  such  duties 
from  its  occupants,  and  yields  such  varied  pleas 
ures  in  their  discharge : — If  the  obligations  of 
power,  of  wealth,  of  talent,  and  of  charity  to 
humanize  our  race,  to  unite  them  in  one  brother 
hood  of  sympathy  and  love,  and  unfold  to  them 
the  wonderful  provisions  for  their  benefit  which 
have  been  made  in  the  structure  and  prepara 
tion  of  their  planetary  home : — If  these  duties, 
so  varied  and  numerous  here,  have  required 


THE  EARTH  AND  THE  OTHER  PLANETS.  73 

thousands  of  years  to  ripen  their  fruit  of  gold, 
what  inconceivable  and  countless  functions  may 
we  not  assign  to  that  plurality  of  intellectual 
communities,  which  have  been  settled,  or  are 
about  to  settle,  in  the  celestial  spheres  ?  What 
deeds  of  heroism,  moral,  and  perchance  physi 
cal  !  What  enterprises  of  philanthropy, — what 
achievements  of  genius  must  be  required  in 
empires  so  extensive,  and  in  worlds  so  grand ! 
On  a  planet  more  magnificent  than  ours,  may 
there  not  be  a  type  of  reason  of  which  the  intel 
lect  of  Newton  is  the  lowest  degree  ?  May  there 
not  be  a  telescope  more  penetrating,  and  a  mi 
croscope  more  powerful  than  ours  ? — processes 
of  induction  more  subtle, — of  analysis  more 
searching, — and  of  combination  more  profound  ? 
May  not  the  problem  of  three  bodies  be  solved 
there, — the  enigma  of  the  luminiferous  ether 
unriddled, — and  the  transcendentalisms  of  mind 
embalmed  in  the  definitions  and  axioms  and 
theorems  of  geometry  ?  Chemistry  may  there 
have  new  elements,  new  gases,  new  acids,  new 
alkalies,  new  earths  and  new  metals; — geo 
logy,  new  rocks,  new  classes  of  cataclysms,  and 
new  periods  of  change ; — and  zoology,  miner- 
7 


74  MOKE   WORLDS  THAN   ONE. 

alogy  and  botany,  new  orders  and  species,  new 
forms  of  life,  and  new  types  of  organization, — 
all  demanding  higher  powers  of  reason,  and 
leading  to  a  warmer  appreciation,  and  a  higher 
knowledge  of  the  ways  and  works  of  God.  But 
whatever  be  the  intellectual  occupation  of  the 
inhabitants  of  the  planets,  who  can  doubt  that 
it  will  be  one  of  their  objects  to  study  and  de 
velop  the  material  laws  which  are  in  operation 
around  them,  above  them,  beneath  them,  and 
beyond  them  in  the  skies  ? 

Under  what  suns,  in  what  climates,  and  in 
what  habitations,  these  planetary  races  are  to 
live  and  move,  may  be  conjectured  from  the 
place  which  they  occupy  in  the  system,  and 
from  the  phenomena  which  they  exhibit  when 
examined  by  the  telescope.  It  may  not  be  in 
cities  exposed  to  the  extremes  of  heat  and  cold, 
— nor  in  houses  made  with  hands, — nor  in  the 
busy  market-place, — nor  in  the  noisy  Forum, — 
nor  in  the  solemn  temple, — nor  in  the  ark  which 
rests  upon  the  ocean,  that  these  feats  of  power 
and  reason  are  to  be  performed.  The  being  of 
another  mould  may  have  his  home  in  subter 
raneous  cities  warmed  by  central  fires, — or  in 


THE  EARTH  AND  THE  OTHER  PLANETS.  75 

crystal  caves  cooled  by  ocean  tides, — or  lie  may 
float  with  the  Nereids  upon  the  deep,  or  mount 
upon  wings  as  eagles,  or  rise  upon  the  pinions 
of  the  dove,  that  he  may  flee  away  and  be  at  rest, 
Amid  our  bald  and  meagre  conceptions  of  the 
conditions  of  planetary  life,  we  may  gather  some 
ideas  from  the  existences  around  us.  In  the  cities 
and  dwellings  and  occupations  of  the  world  of 
instinct  in  our  own  planet,  rude  though  they 
be,  we  may  trace  the  lineaments  of  the  cities 
and  dwellings  and  occupations  of  reason  in 
another. 

In  continuing  the  argument  for  a  plurality 
of  worlds,  it  would  be  an  unnecessary  waste  of 
time  to  enter  into  the  same  details  respecting  the 
analogy  between  the  Earth  and  the  other  three 
superior  planets  of  the  system,  as  we  have  done 
with  respect  to  Jupiter.  In  some,  the  analogies 
are  more  stringent  than  in  others,  but  in  all  of 
them  they  are  sufficiently  numerous  and  power 
ful  to  command  the  assent  of  the  unprejudiced 
mind. 

In  all  the  three  planets,  superior  to  Jupiter, 
namely,  Saturn,  Uranus,  and  Neptune,  the  di 
rect  light  and  heat  of  the  sun  is  greatly  less 


76  MORE  WORLDS  THAN  ONE. 

than  that  which  falls  upon  Jupiter,  being  in 
versely  proportional  to  the  squares  of  their  dis 
tances  from  the  centre  of  their  radiations  ;  but 
we  have  already  seen,  that  in  so  far  as  vision 
and  local  temperature  are  concerned,  the  light 
of  the  sun  may  be  as  brilliant,  and  the  temper 
ature  of  the  seasons  as  genial  as  they  are 
upon  our  own  Earth.  An  increased  degree  of 
sensibility  in  the  nervous  membrane  of  the 
eye,  with  an  enlarged  pupil,  may  give  to  light, 
geometrically  feeble,  a  sufficient  energy  of  sen 
sation,  while  a  different  condition  of  their  at 
mospheres,  and  a  more  ardent  focus  of  internal 
heat,  may  maintain  an  agreeable  temperature 
upon  their  surface. 

The  planet  Saturn,  encompassed  with  the 
extraordinary  appendage  of  a  ring,  fitted  to 
illuminate  extensive  portions  of  his  surface,  and 
encircled  with  eight  moons  to  light  him  in  the 
sun's  absence,  and  revolving  round  him  in 
months  varying  from  the  length  of  one  day  up 
to  eighty  days,  has  always  been  an  object  of 
peculiar  interest  to  the  astronomer,  and  of  won 
der  to  the  ordinary  student  of  nature.  The 
plane  of  the  ring,  which  we  have  described  in 


THE  EARTH  AND  THE  OTHER  PLANETS.  77 

the  preceding  chapter,  is  parallel  to  the  equator, 
and  has  inequalities  like  mountains  on  its  sur 
face.  The  eight  satellites  of  Saturn  are  placed 
at  distances  varying  from  98,000  miles,  the  dis 
tance  of  the  nearest  from  the  planet,  to  nearly 
two  millions  of  miles  ;  and  as  the  first  five  sat 
ellites  are  nearer  Saturn  than  our  moon  is  to 
the  earth,  they  will  exhibit  larger  discs  of  light 
to  the  planet ;  and  if,  what  is  very  probable,  they 
are  greatly  larger  than  our  moon,  the  firmament 
must  exhibit  a  brilliant  picture  bespangled  with 
large  discs  of  light  with  a  variety  of  phases,  and 
spanned  with  the  brilliant  arches  of  the  planet's 
ring.  As  the  nearest  of  these  moons,  which  is 
called  Mimas,  performs  its  revolution  in  twenty- 
two  hours  and  a  half,  its  phases  must  change 
from  the  slenderest  crescent  to  the  state  of  half 
moon  in  the  course  of  five  hours,  and  as  its  disc 
(if  it  has  the  same  real  size  as  our  moon)  must 
appear  two  and  a  half  times  larger,  the  boundary 
between  the  light  and  dark  hemisphere  will  be 
seen  actually  advancing  upon  the  body  of  the 
satellite.  For  the  same  reason,  the  motion  of 
this  satellite  among  the  stars  will  be  more  per- 

septible  than  the  movement  of  our  stars  and 
7* 


78  MORE  WORLDS  THAN  ONE. 

planets  from  their  rising  to  their  setting,  pro 
duced  by  the  diurnal  motion  of  the  Earth.* 

In  respect  to  the  force  of  gravity  upon  the 
surface  of  Saturn,  the  analogy  between  it  and 
the  earth  is  stronger  than  in  the  case  of  Jupiter. 
The  density  of  Saturn  is  to  that  of  the  Earth  as 
24  to  100,  or  a  little  more  than  four  times  less, 
so  that  since  the  earth  is  5J  times  denser  than 
water,  the  density  of  Saturn  will  be  Ifths  that 
of  water.  In  like  manner  it  may  be  shown  that 
Uranus  and  Neptune  have  nearly  the  same 
density  as  water,  and  if  we  make  the  same  esti 
mation  of  the  force  of  gravity  upon  the  three 
superior  planets,  we  shall  find  that  in  Saturn 
the  force  of  gravity  is  a  little  greater  than  in  the 

*  The  appearance  of  the  system  of  rings  from  the  surface  of  Saturn,  and 
of  the  phenomena  which  they  produce  in  eclipsing  occasionally  and  tem 
porarily  the  sun,  the  eight  satellites,  and  other  celestial  bodies,  was  for  the 
first  time  accurately  described  by  Dr.  Lardner  in  a  memoir  published  in 
the  twenty-second  volume  of  the  Transactions  of  the  Astronomical  Society 
for  1853.  Dr.  Lardner  has  "  there  demonstrated  that  the  infinite  skill  of 
the  great  Architect  of  the  Universe  has  not  permitted  that  this  stupendous 
annular  appendage,  the  use  of  which  still  remains  undiscovered,  should  be 
the  cause  of  such  darkness  and  desolation  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  planet, 
and  such  an  aggravation  of  the  rigors  of  their  fifteen  years'  winter,  as  it 
has  been  inferred  to  be  from  the  reasonings  of  the  eminent  astronomers 
already  named,  (Bode,  Herschel,  and  Madler,)  as  well  as  many  others, 
who  have  either  adopted  their  conclusions,  or  arrived  at  like  inferences 
by  other  arguments."  "  In  short,"  Dr.  Lardner  adds,  "  the  ring  has  no 
such  character  as  would  deprive  the  planet  of  any  essential  condition  oj 
habitability." — Museum  of  Science  and  Jlrt,  vol.  i.  p. 59. 


THE  EARTH  AND  THE  OTHER  PLANETS.  79 

Earth,  and  in  Uranus  and  Neptune  a  little  less, 
so  that  human  beings  like  ourselves  would  ex 
perience  no  inconvenience  from  the  greater  or 
less  force  of  gravity  on  these  planets,  and  plants 
and  trees,  and  architectural  structures,  of  the 
same  character  with  our  own,  would  have  the 
same  strength  and  permanence. 

In  consequense  of  the  rotation  of  Saturn  upon 
his  axis  in  about  10  J  hours,  belts  and  streaks  are 
seen  upon  his  surface,  produced  doubtless,  like 
those  in  Jupiter,  by  equatorial  currents  like  our 
trade  winds.  Variable  masses  of  cloud  diversify 
his  surface,  sometimes  changing  their  place,  and 
sometimes  continuing  so  long  in  one  position, 
that  they  reappear  at  one  side  of  the  planet's 
disc  in  the  same  place  which  they  occupied  five 
hours  before  when  they  disappeared  on  the 
other  side  of  it. 

In  the  two  remote  planets,  Uranus  and  Nep 
tune,  the  principal  point  of  analogy  with  our 
Earth  is,  that  they  are  lighted  with  moons, 
Uranus  with  six  satellites,  and  Neptune  with 
one  or  perhaps  two,  though  we  have  no  doubt 
that,  like  the  other  distant  planets,  he  will  be 
found  to  possess  a  greater  number.  The  power 


80  MOEE  WORLDS  THAN  ONE 

of  our  best  telescopes  lias  not  enabled  astrono 
mers  to  discover  belts  and  clouds  upon  these 
two  planets,  and  thus  determine  their  daily 
motion.  The  oblate  form  of  their  discs,  too, 
remains  to  be  discovered ;  but  notwithstanding 
the  absence  of  these  points  of  analogy,  the  very 
existence  of  such  large  globes  of  matter  revolv 
ing  round  the  sun,  and  lighted  up  with  moons, 
cannot  fail  to  satisfy  the  unprejudiced  and  in 
quiring  mind  that  they  must  have  been  created 
for  some  grand  purpose  worthy  of  their  Maker. 
In  the  present  state  of  our  knowledge,  it  is  im 
possible  to  conceive  any  other  purpose  but  that 
of  being  the  residence  of  animal  and  intellec 
tual  life. 

There  is  one  consideration  in  reference  to  the 
two  remote  planets,  Uranus  and  Neptune,  which 
some  of  our  readers  may  regard  as  adding  to 
the  probability  of  their  being  worlds  like  our 
own.  Some  writers,  or  rather  one,  for  we  know 
of  only  one,  have  asserted  that  "  however  desti 
tute  planets,  moons,  and  rings  may  be  of  inhab 
itants,  they  are  at  least  vast  scenes  of  God's 
presence,  and  of  the  activity  with  which  He 
carries  into  effect  everywhere  the  laws  of  na- 


EARTH  AND  THE  OTHER  PLANETS.  81 


ture,  and  that  the  glory  of  creation  arises  from 
its  being  not  only  the  product,  but  the  constant 
field  of  God's  activity  and  thought,  wisdom  and 
power."*  We  shall  not  venture  to  ascertain  how 
much  more  of  God's  glory  is  seen  in  the  mere 
material  structure  of  Saturn  and  his  ring,  and  of 
Jupiter  and  his  satellites,  than  it  is  in  the  minut 
est  insect  that  lives  but  for  an  hour  ;  nor  shall 
we  compare  gigantic  masses  of  self-luminous  or 
illuminated  matter  with  the  smaller  organisms 
which  are  daily  presented  to  us.  We  shall 
admit  that  the  vulgar  eye  even  is  delighted 
with  the  sight  of  planets  made  gorgeous  by 
the  telescope,  —  that  astronomers  are  entranced 
by  the  study  of  their  movements  and  their  per 
turbations,  and  that  the  useful  art  of  navigation 
may  derive  some  advantage  from  the  eclipses 
of  Jupiter's  satellites.  The  poet  may  rejoice  in 
"  the  soft  and  tender  beauty  of  the  moon,"  and 
in  the  inspirations  of  the  morning  and  the  even 
ing  star.  But  where  is  the  grandeur,  —  where 
the  utility,  —  where  the  beauty,  —  where  the 
poetry  of  the  two  almost  invisible  stars  which 
usurp  the  celestial  names  of  Uranus  and  Nep- 

*  Of  the  Plurality  of  Worlds  :  an  Essay,  p.  254. 


82  MORE  WORLDS  THAN  ONE. 

tune,  and  which,  have  been  seen  by  non  .  ***•  A 
very  few  even  of  the  cultivators  of  astronomy  ? 
The  grand  discoveries  of  Kepler,  Newton,  and 
Laplace,  were  made  before  these  planets  were 
known.  They  contribute  nothing  to  the  arts 
of  terrestrial  life  :  they  neither  light  the  lover 
to  his  mistress,  nor  mark  by  their  silver  ray  the 
happy  hours  which  are  consecrated  to  friendship 
and  to  love.  They  are  doubtless  the  abodes  of 
life  and  intelligence — the  colossal  temples  where 
their  Creator  is  recognized  and  worshipped — 
the  remotest  watch-towers  of  our  system  from 
which  His  works  may  be  better  studied,  and  His 
glories  more  easily  descried. 

From  Jupiter  and  the  planets  beyond  him, 
we  now  proceed  to  the  examination  of  Mars, 
Venus,  and  Mercury,  and  here  we  shall  find 
analogies  more  or  less  numerous  and  striking 
with  those  of  our  own  Earth.  In  this  group  of 
planets  no  moon  or  satellite  has  yet  been  discov 
ered,  and  it  is  probable  that  none  exists.  An 
atmosphere  of  great  height,  and  of  a  peculiar 
constitution,  might  in  all  of  them  supply  the 
place  of  a  moon.  The  density  of  Mars  and 
Venus  is  very  nearly  the  same  as  that  of  the 


THE  EAKTH  AND  THE  OTHER  PLANETS.  83 

Earth,  the  former  being  0*95,  and  that  of  the 
latter  O92,  while  the  density  of  Mercury  is  a 
little  greater,  being  1*12.  As  the  diameter  of 
Venus  is  nearly  equal  to  that  of  the  Earth,  the 
force  of  gravity  will  be  almost  exactly  the  same ; 
and  in  Mars  and  Mercury,  whose  diameters  are 
only  about  one  half  that  of  the  Earth,  the  weight 
of  bodies  are  equally  about  one  half  of  what 
they  would  be  if  placed  upon  our  own  globe. 
In  Mars,  Venus,  and  Mercury,  the  length  of 
the  day  is  almost  exactly  twenty -four  hours,  the 
same  as  that  of  the  Earth,*  and  in  many  other 
points  the  analogy  with  our  globe  is  very  strik 
ing.  Continents  and  oceans,  and  green  savan 
nas,  have  been  observed  upon  Mars,  and  the 
snow  of  his  polar  regions  has  been  seen  to  dis 
appear  with  the  heat  of  summer.  In  Venus 
and  Mercury  their  surface  is  variegated  with 
mountain  chains  of  great  elevation,  and  but  for 
the  brilliancy  of  their  discs,  and  the  clouds  which 
envelop  them,  the  telescope  would  have  discover 
ed  to  us  more  minute  details  upon  their  surface. 

*  The  mean  of  the  length  of  the  day  in  these  four  planets,  is  within  less 
than  a  minute  of  twenty-four  hours.  The  days  of  Mercury,  Venus,  the 
Earth,  and  Mars,  are  respectively  24h  5m ;  23h  21 m ;  241*  7m,  and  24&  7m  • 
the  mean  of  which  is  241*  0°»  45". 


84  MORE  WORLDS  THAN  ONE. 

The  planets  of  this  inferior  group  are  sur- 
rounded  with  atmosphere  like  our  Earth.  We 
actually  see  the  clouds  floating  in  the  atmos 
phere  of  Mars.  Venus  and  Mercury  are  sur 
rounded  with  the  same  medium  essential  to 
life,  and  in  Venus  astronomers  have  even  ob 
served  the  morning  and  the  evening  twilight. 
These  atmospheres  are  doubtless  the  means  of 
tempering  the  great  heat  which  Venus  and 
Mercury  receive  from  the  sun ;  and  the  same 
purpose  may  be  answered  by  the  absence  of 
that  internal  heat  which  exists  in  the  Earth, 
and  which  may  be  used  to  increase  the  tem 
perature  of  the  remoter  planets.  The  intense 
light  which  Venus  and  Mercury  receive  from 
the  sun  may  be  adduced  as  an  objection  to  the 
existence,  upon  these  planets,  of  inhabitants  like 
ourselves ;  but  this  objection  is  at  once  removed 
by  the  consideration  that  this  intense  light  may 
be  completely  moderated  either  by  a  very  small 
pupil,  or  by  a  diminished  sensibility  of  the 
retina,  or  by  a  combination  of  both. 

Such   are   the   numerous    analogies   which 

~  subsist  between  our  Earth  and  Mars,  Venus 

and  Mercury.     They  afford,  as  a  popular  writer 


THE  EARTH  AND  THE  OTHER  PLANETS.  85 

observes,  "  The  highest  degree  of  probability, 
not  to  say  moral  certainty,  to  the  conclusion, 
that  these  three  planets  which,  with  the  Earth, 
revolve  nearest  to  the  Sun,  are,  like  the  Earth, 
appropriated  by  the  omnipotent  Creator  and 
Euler  of  the  universe  to  races  very  closely 
resembling,  if  not  absolutely  identical  with 
those  with  which  the  Earth  is  peopled."*  After 
concluding  his  examination  of  the  four  exterior 
planets,  Jupiter,  Saturn,  Uranus,  and  Neptune, 
the  same  able  and  candid  writer  concludes  his 
elaborate  chapter  in  these  words : — 

"  We  have  thus  presented  the  reader  with  a 
brief  and  rapid  sketch  of  the  circumstances 
attending  the  two  chief  groups  of  globes  which 
compose  the  solar  system,  and  have  explained 
the  discoveries  and  striking  analogies,  which 
taken  together  amount  to  a  demonstration,  that 
in  the  economy  of  the  material  universe  these 
globes  must  subserve  the  same  purposes  as  the 
Earth,  and  must  be  the  dwellings'  of  tribes  of 
organized  creatures  having  a  corresponding 
analogy  to  those  which  inhabit  the  Earth. 

"  The  differences  of  organization  and  char- 

*  Dr.  Lardner's  Museum  of  Science  and  Art,  vol.  i.  p.  23. 


86  MORE  WORLDS  THAN  ONE. 

acter  which  would  be  suggested  as  probable  or 
necessary  by  the  different  distances  of  the 
several  planets  from  the  common  source  of 
light  and  heat,  and  the  consequent  differences 
of  intensity  of  these  physical  agencies  upon 
them,  by  the  different  weights  of  bodies  on 
their  surfaces,  owing  to  the  different  intensities 
of  their  attractions  on  such  bodies,  by  the 
different  intervals  which  mark  the  alternation 
of  light  and  darkness,  are  not  more  than  are 
seen  to  prevail  among  the  organized  tribes, 
animal  and  vegetable,  which  inhabit  different 
regions  of  the  earth.  The  animals  and  plants 
of  the  tropical  zones  differ  in  general  from  those 
of  the  temperate  and  the  polar  zones,  and  even 
in  the  same  zone  we  find  different  tribes  of 
organized  creatures  flourish  at  different  eleva 
tions  above  the  level  of  the  sea.  There  is  no 
thing  more  wonderful  than  this  in  the  varieties 
of  organization  suggested  by  the  various  phys 
ical  conditions  by  which  the  planets  are  af 
fected."* 

To  this  opinion  of  a  mathematician  and  a 
natural  philosopher,  who  has  studied  more  than 

*  Dr.  Lardner's  Museum  of  Science  and  Art,  vol.  i.  p.  63. 


THE  EARTH  AND  THE  OTHER  PLANETS.  87 

any  preceding  writer  the  analogies  between  the 
Earth  and  the  other  planets,  we  may  add  that 
of  the  most  distinguished  naturalist  and  anato 
mist  of  the  present  day,  who  speaks  in  an 
authoritative  tone  as  representing  the  cultiva 
tors  of  that  department  of  science  which  he 
has  enriched  with  such  important  discoveries. 
"We  have  been  accustomed,"  says  Professor 
Owen,*  "to  regard  the  vertebrate  animals  as 
being  characterized  by  the  limitation  of  their 
limbs  to  two  pairs,  and  it  is  true  that  no  more 
diverging  appendages  are  developed  for  station, 
locomotion,  and  manipulation.  But  the  rudi 
ments  of  many  more  pairs  are  present  in  many 
species.  And  though  they  may  never  be  devel 
oped  as  such  in  this  planet,  it  is  quite  conceivable 
that  certain  of  them  may  be  so  developed,  if  the 
vertebrate  type  should  be  that  on  which  any  of 
the  inhabitants  of  other  planets  of  our  system  are 
organized. 

"  The  conceivable  modifications  of  the  verte 
brate  archetype  are  very  far  from  being  ex 
hausted  by  any  of  the  forms  that  now  inhabit 
the  Earth,  or  that  are  known  to  have  existed 
here  at  any  period. 

*  On  the  Nature  of  Limbs.    London,  1849,  pp.  83,  84 


88  MORE  WORLDS  THAN  ONE. 

"  The  naturalist  and  anatomist,  in  digesting 
the  knowledge  which  the  astronomer  has  been 
able  to  furnish  regarding  the  planets  and  the 
mechanism  of  the  satellites  for  illuminating 
the  night  season  of  the  distant  orbs  that  revolve 
round  one  common  sun,  can  hardly  avoid  specu 
lating  on  the  organic  mechanism  that  may  exist 
to  profit  by  such  sources  of  light,  and  which 
MUST  EXIST  if  the  only  conceivable  purpose 
of  these  beneficent  arrangements  is  to  be  ful 
filled.  But  the  laws  of  light,  as  of  gravitation, 
being  the  same  in  Jupiter  as  here,  the  eyes  of 
such  creatures  as  may  disport  in  the  soft  re 
flected  beams  of  its  moons  will  probably  be  or 
ganized  on  the  same  dioptric  principles  as  those 
of  the  animals  of  a  like  grade  of  organization 
on  this  earth.  And  the  inference  as  to  the 
possibility  of  the  vertebrate  type  being  the  basis 
of  the  organization  of  some  of  the  inhabitants  of 
other  planets,  will  not  appear  so  hazardous 
when  it  is  remembered  that  the  orbits  or  pro 
tective  cavities  of  the  eyes  of  the  vertebrata 
of  this  planet  are  constructed  of  modified  ver 
tebrae.  Our  thoughts  are  free  to  soar  as  far  as 
any  legitmate  analogy  may  seem  to  guide 
them  rightly  on  the  boundless  ocean  of  un- 


THE  EARTH  AND  THE  OTHER  PLANETS.  89 

known  truth.  And  if  censure  be  merited  for 
here  indulging,  even  for  a  moment,  in  pure 
speculation,  it  may  perhaps  be  disarmed  by  the 
reflection  that  the  discovery  of  the  vertebrate 
archetype  could  riot  fail  to  suggest  to  the  anato 
mist  many  possible  modifications  of  it  beyond 
those  that  we  know  to  have  been  realized  in 
this  little  orb  of  ours.11 

In  referring  to  the  doctrine  of  Plato  respect 
ing  ideal  archetypes,  as  thus  revived  by  Pro 
fessor  Owen,  the  author  of  the  Essay  on  a 
Plurality  of  Worlds  pays  the  following  just 
compliment  to  this  eminent  anatomist : — "  If  a 
mere  metaphysician,"  says  he,  "  were  to  attempt 
to  revive  this  mode  of  expressing  the  doctrine, 
probably  his  speculations  would  be  disregarded, 
or  treated  as  a  pedantic  resuscitation  of  obsolete 
Platonic  dreams,  but  the  adoption  of  such  lan 
guage  must  needs  be  received  in  a  very  different 
manner  when  it  proceeds  from  a  great  discoverer 
in  the  field  of  natural  knowledge :  when  it  is, 
as  it  were,  forced  upon  him  as  the  obvious  and 
appropriate  expression  of  the  result  of  the  most 
profound  and  comprehensive  researches  into 
the  frame  of  the  whole  animal  creation.  The 
8* 


90  MORE  WORLDS  THAN  ONE. 

recent  works  of  Mr.  Owen,  and  especially  one 
work  On  the  Nature  of  Lirnbs,  are  full  of  the 
most  energetic  and  striking  passages,  inculcat 
ing  the  doctrine  which  we  have  been  endeav 
oring  to  maintain.  We  may  take  the  liberty 
of  enriching  our  pages  with  one  passage  bearing 
upon  the  present  part  of  the  subject. 

"  l  If  the  world  were  made  by  an  antecedent 
mind  or  understanding,  that  is,  by  a  Deity,  then 
there  must  needs  be  an  Idea  and  Exemplar  of 
the  whole  world  before  it  was  made,  and  conse 
quently,  actual  knowledge  both  in  the  order  of 
Time  and  Nature  before  Things.  But  conceiving 
of  knowledge  as  it  was  got  by  their  own  finite 
minds,  and  ignorant  of  any  evidence  of  an  ideal 
archetype  for  the  world  or  any  part  of  it,  they 
(the  Democritic  philosophers  who  denied  a  Di 
vine  Creative  Mind)  affirmed  that  there  was  none, 
and  concluded  that  there  could  be  no  knowledge 
or  mind  before  the  world  was,  as  its  cause.'  " 

Before  we  read  this  passage  in  Professor 
Owen's  work  On  Limbs,  from  which  our  essayist 
does  not  quote  it,*  for  reasons  which  may  be 

*  The  quotation  may  be  from  Professor  Owen's  other  works  referred 
to  by  the  essayist ;  to  his  work,  for  example,  On  the  Archetype  of  the 
Vertebrate  Skeleton. 


THE  EARTH  AND  THE  OTHER  PLANETS.  91 

conjectured,  we  never  doubted  that  the  accom 
plished  professor  did  not  believe  in  a  plurality 
of  worlds.  Upon  turning,  however,  to  the 
volume  itself,  we  found  the  beautiful  passage 
which  we  have  quoted  in  direct  support  of  this 
great  doctrine,  which  we  may  truly  say,  in  the 
words  of  the  essayist,  "proceeds  from  a  great 
discoverer  in  the  field  of  natural  knowledge, 
and  which  was  forced  upon  him  (Professor 
Owen)  as  the  obvious  and  appropriate  express 
ion  of  the  result  of  the  most  profound  and 
comprehensive  researches  into  the  frame  of  the 
whole  animal  creation" 

But  not  only  has  the  essayist  dealt  thus 
unfairly  with  his  readers,  he  has  treated  Pro 
fessor  Owen  in  the  same  manner,  by  ascribing 
to  him  the  first  half  of  the  preceding  quotation, 
which  the  Professor  quotes  from  "the  learned 
Cudworth"  in  his  own  words,  and  which  Cud- 
worth  gives  as  the  opinion  of  "the  Democritic 
Atheists!" 

The  observations  of  Professor  Owen  on  ideal 
archetypes  throw  a  real  light  on  the  subject  of 
a  plurality  of  worlds.  If  there  be  an  ideal  ex 
emplar  or  archetype  o£  vertebrate  animals,  and 


92  MOEE  WORLDS  THAN  ONE. 

if  the  conceivable  modifications  of  that  arche 
type  are  far  from  being  exhausted  either  in  the 
animal  forms  which  now  inhabit  the  earth,  or 
in  the  fossil  remains  of  its  primeval  tenants,  it 
is  no  idle  speculation  to  suppose  that  the  modi 
fications  may  be  developed  in  the  vertebrate 
animals  of  other  planets.  We  have  a  reason 
therefore,  besides  those  of  analogy  and  con- 
gruity,  to  believe  in  the  existence  of  beings 
both  intellectual  and  animal  in  the  other 
regions  of  space.  And  as  there  must  be  an 
exemplar  of  intellectual  as  well  as  of  physical 
man,  may  we  not  equally  expect  in  the  upper 
spheres  modifications  of  mind  which  have  not 
been  exhibited  in  the  terrestrial  races  ?  If  the 
rudimentary  wing  of  man  be  expanded  into  the 
soaring  pinion  of  the  eagle,  may  not  those 
mental  powers  which  are  only  rudimentary 
here,  and  which  fail  in  grasping  the  infinite 
and  the  eternal,  expand  themselves  in  another 
planet,  and  approximate  to  that  divine  intelli 
gence  of  which  they  are  here  but  a  feeble 
emanation  ? 

Under  the  influence  of  such  views,  may  we 
not  conceive  also  the  archetype  of  a  world, 


THE  EARTH  AND  THE  OTHEE  PLANETS.   93 

the  rudiments  of  which,  imperfectly  developed 
in  our  own  globe,  may  have  all  its  modifica 
tions  exhausted  in  the  planetary  and  sidereal 
domains  ?  The  uniformity  in  the  general  design 
of  the  bodies  of  animals,  which  Sir  Isaac  New 
ton  compares  with  that  "  wonderful  uniformity 
of  the  planetary  system,  which  is  the  effect  of 
choice,"  being  thus  compatible  with  an  almost 
infinite  diversity  of  parts,  there  may  be  the 
same  numerous  deviations  from  the  archetype 
in  the  planetary  world.  "  It  may  be  allowed," 
says  Sir  Isaac  Newton,  "that  God  is  able  to 
create  particles  of  matter  of  several  sizes  and 
figures,  and  in  several  proportions  to  space, 
and  perhaps  of  different  densities  and  forces, 
and  thereby  to  vary  the  laws  of  Nature,  and 
make  worlds  of  several  sorts  in  several  parts  of 
the  universe"*  If  all  the  structures  of  created 
things  are 

"  Parts  and  proportions  of  a  wondrous  whole," 

the  whole  is  the  sidereal  universe,  and  those 
parts  and  proportions  are  the  inhabited  planets, 
satellites,  and  suns  of  which  it  is  composed. 

*  Optics,  edit.  1721,  pp.  378,  379. 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE   SUN,  THE   MOON,  AND  OTHER  SATELLITES, 
AND  THE  ASTEROIDS. 

So  strong  has  been  the  belief  that  the  Sun 
cannot  be  a  habitable  world,  that  a  scientific 
gentleman*  was  pronounced  by  his  medical  at 
tendant  to  be  insane,  because  he  had  sent  a 
paper  to  the  Royal  Society,  in  which  he  main 
tained  "  that  the  light  of  the  sun  proceeds  from 
a  dense  and  universal  aurora  which  may  afford 
ample  light  lo  the  inhabitants  of  the  surface^ 
beneath,  and  yet  be  at  such  a  distance  aloft,  as- 
not  to  annoy  them;" — that  " vegetation  may 
obtain  there  as  well  as  with  us," — that  "  there 
may  be  water  and  dry  land  there,  hills  and 
dales,  rain,  and  fair  weather," — and  that  "  as  the: 

*  This  gentleman  was  a  Dr.  Elliott,  who  was  tried  at  the  Old  Bailey  for 
shooting  Miss  Boydell.  His  medical  attendant  was  Dr.  Simmons,  througb 
whom  he  sent  the  paper  for  the  Royal  Society,  and  who  referred  the  Couit 
to  the  passage  we  have  given  as  a  proof  of  insanity.  See  Edinburgh  Eiv- 
cyclopadia,  Art.  Astronomy,  vol.  ii.  p.  616,  or  Oentlemaii's  Magazine  fern 
1787,  p.  636. 


THE  SUN  AND   THE   SATELLITES.  95 

light  and  the  seasons  must  be  eternal,"  the 
"  sun  may  easily  be  conceived  to  be  by  far  the 
most  blissful  habitation  of  the  whole  system." 
In  less  than  ten  years  after  this  apparently  ex 
travagant  notion  was  considered  a  proof  of  in 
sanity,  it  was  maintained  by  Sir  William  Her- 
schel  as  a  rational  and  probable  opinion,  which 
might  be  deduced  from  his  own  observations 
on  the  structure  of  the  sun. 

It  is  by  no  means  necessary  that  those  who 
believe  in  a  plurality  of  worlds  within  the  limits 
of  our  own  system,  should  adopt  the  opinion 
that  the  sun  which  lights  it,  and  the  many  satel 
lites  which  light  the  primary  planets,  should  be 
inhabited  worlds.  They  form  an  entirely  differ 
ent  class  of  bodies,  and  the  arguments  employed 
to  show  that  they  may  be  inhabited  are  of  a 
different  nature  from  those  analogies  which  so 
strongly  apply  to  the  primary  planets.  The 
Sun  has  a  great  function  to  perform  in  control 
ling  the  movements  of  the  whole  system.  It 
is  the  fixed  mainspring  of  the  great  planetary 
chronometers,  without  which  they  would  stop, 
and  rush  into  destructive  collision.  It  is  the 
lamp  which  yields  them  the  light  without  which 


96  MORE  WORLDS  THAN  ONE. 

life  would  perish.  It  is  the  furnace  which  sup* 
plies  the  fuel  without  which  every  organic  struc 
ture  would  be  destroyed.  Created  for  such  no 
ble  purposes,  we  are  led  by  no  analogy  to'  as 
sign  it  to  an  additional  function.  The  very 
same  remark  may  be  applied  to  our  moon,  and 
to  all  the  satellites  of  the  system.  They  are 
the  domestic  lamps  which  light  the  primary 
planets  in  the  absence  of  the  sun,  and  all  of 
them,  as  well  as  our  own,  may  exercise  the 
other  office  of  producing  the  tides  of  their  oceans. 
It  is  quite  otherwise  with  the  primary  planets : 
They  have  no  conceivable  function  to  perform 
but  that  of  supporting  inhabitants,  unless  we 
give  them  the  additional  one,  which  they  are 
all  fit  for  performing,  and  which  they  perform 
so  well,  of  becoming  large  lamps  to  their  satel 
lites  ;  and  if  we  invest  them  with  this  function, 
we  obtain  an  argument  in  favor  of  the  satel 
lites  themselves  being  inhabited. 

We  are  willing  therefore  to  admit,  that  anal 
ogy  would  fail  us,  were  we  to  attempt  by  its 
processes  to  people  the  sun  and  the  satellites 
with  inhabitants.  But  analogy  is  not  our  only 
guide  in  such  inquiries.  The  creations  of  the 


THE   SUN  AND   THE   SATELLITES.  97 

material  world,  whether  they  be  of  colossal  or 
atomic  magnitude,  may  have  various  and  ap 
parently  contradictory  purposes  to  perform ; 
and  when  we  find  that  other  purposes,  not  cog 
nizable  b}?"  our  senses,  or  not  demonstrable  by 
our  reason,  may  be  promoted  by  such  objects, 
we  cannot  resist  the  admission  that  such  addi 
tional  objects  may  have  been  contemplated  in 
their  creation.  The  great  masses  of  ironstone 
in  our  earth,  while  they  are  a  necessary  part 
of  its  framework,  and  are  intended  mainly  to 
supply  man  with  the  tools  of  civilization,  may 
have  the  tertiary  or  the  secondary  purpose  of 
giving  life  to  the  needle  of  the  compass,  or  of 
contributing  to  those  great  electrical  and  mag- 
netical  arrangements  which  exist  on  our  globe. 
While  the  sun  then  and  the  satellites  are  pri 
marily  intended  for  the  great  purposes  which 
they  so  obviously  subserve,  it  is  not  unreason 
able  to  suppose  that  they  may  also  be  the  seats 
of  life  and  intelligence. 

After  a  skilful  examination  of  the  solar  spots, 
Sir  William  Herschel  has  made  it  highly  prob 
able,  if  not  certain,  that  the  light  of  the  sun 
issues  from  an  outer  stratum  of  self-luminous 
9 


98  MORE  WORLDS  THAN  ONE. 

or  phosphoric  clouds,  beneath  which  there  is  a 
second  stratum  of  clouds  of  inferior  brightness, 
which  is  intended  to  protect  the  solid  and  opaque 
body  of  the  sun  from  the  intense  brilliancy  and 
heat  of  the  luminous  clouds.  In  measuring, 
photometrically,  the  light  of  these  three  differ 
ent  structures,  he  found  that  the  light  reflected 
outwards  by  the  clouds  of  the  inferior  stratum, 
was  equal  to  469  rays  out  of  a  1000,  or  less  than 
one-half  of  the  light  of  the  outer  stratum,  and 
that  the  light  reflected  by  the  opaque  body  of 
the  sun  below  was  only  seven  rays  out  of  a  1000. 
Hence  he  concluded  that  the  outer  stratum  of 
self-luminous  or  phosphoric  clouds  was  the  re 
gion  of  that  light  and  heat  which  are  transmitted 
to  the  remotest  part  of  the  system  ;  while  the 
inferior  stratum,  which  is  obviously  of  a  different 
character  from  the  other,  is  intended  to  protect 
the  inhabitants  of  the  sun  from  the  blaze  of  the 
stupendous  furnace  which  encloses  them.  In 
confirmation  of  these  views,  the  faint  illumina 
tion, — the  seven  rays  out  of  a  thousand,  is  a 
proof  that  the  light  of  the  outer  stratum,  and 
consequently  its  heat,  must  be  extremely  small 
on  the  dark  body  of  the  luminary  which  we  see 


THE  SUN  AND  THE  SATELLITES.  99 

through  what  are  called  the  solar  spots,  which 
are  now  universally  admitted  to  be  openings  in 
the  luminous  stratum,  and  not  opaque  scoriae 
floating  on  its  surface. 

It  is  curious  to  observe  how  the  conjectures 
in  one  science  are  sometimes  converted  into 
truths  by  the  discoveries  in  another.  Sir  Wil 
liam  Herschel,  as  we  have  seen,  has  stated  it  as 
the  result  of  many  observations,  that  the  light 
of  the  sun  does  not  proceed,  as  was  almost  uni 
versally  believed,  from  a  solid  or  liquid  mass  in 
a  state  of  incandescence,  or  white  heat,  and  the 
fact  has  been  demonstrated  by  means  of  a  beau 
tiful  optical  discovery  of  M.  Arago : — When  a 
solid  mass  becomes  luminous  by  being  raised  to 
a  red  or  white  heat,  the  rays  which  emanate 
from  it  in  every  direction  do  not  proceed  only 
from  its  outer  superflces.  They  are  radiated 
like  those  of  heat  from  an  infinite  number  of 
material  points  below  the  surface,  and  extend 
ing  to  a  certain  small  depth.  The  rays  which 
traverse  this  thin  luminous  film,  have  been 
found  by  M.  Arago  to  be  polarized,  whereas, 
had  they  proceeded  from  an  envelope  of  flame, 
they  would  not  have  exhibited  this  remarkable 


100  MOKE  WOKLDS  THAN  ONE. 

property.  Now,  M.  Arago  has  also  discovered 
that  the  rays  which,  issue  obliquely  from  the 
sun's  surface  are  not  polarized,  and  hence  he-  is 
authorized  to  draw  the  conclusion  confirming 
Sir  W.  Herschel's  opinion,  that  the  light  of  the 
sun  issues  from  a  gaseous  envelope  of  flame,  or 
self-luminous  matter. 

With  this  important  result  before  us,  we 
approach  the  question  of  the  habitability  of  the 
sun,  with  the  certain  knowledge  that  the  sun 
is  not  a  red-hot  globe,  but  that  its  nucleus  is  a 
solid  opaque  mass  receiving  very  little  light  and 
heat  from  its  luminous  atmosphere.  Sir  Wil 
liam  commences  his  argument  by  inquiring  into 
the  probability  of  the  moon  being  inhabited. 

"The  moon,"  he  says,  "  is  a  secondary  planet, 
of  a  considerable  size,  the  surface  of  which  is 
diversified  like  that  of  the  earth,  by  mountains 
and  valleys.  Its  situation  with  respect  to  the 
sun  is  much  like  that  of  the  earth,  and,  by  a 
rotation  upon  its  axis,  it  enjoys  an  agreeable 
variety  of  seasons,  and  of  day  and  night.  To 
the  moon  our  globe  will  appear  to  be  a  very 
capital  satellite,  undergoing  the  same  regular 
changes  of  illumination  as  the  moon  does  to 


THE  SUN  AND  THE  SATELLITES,  101 

the  earth.  The  sun,  the  planets,  and  the  starry 
constellations  of  the  heavens,  will  rise  and  set 
there  as  they  do  here,  and  heavy  bodies  will  fall 
on  the  moon  as  they  do  on  the  earth.  There 
seems  only  to  be  wanting,  in  order  to  complete 
the  analogy,  that  it  should  be  inhabited  like 
the  .earth. 

"  To  this  it  may  be  objected,  that  we  per-  ^ 
ceive  no  large  seas  in  the  moon ;  that  its  atmos-  J 
phere  (the  existence  of  which  has  been  doubted 
by  many)  is  extremely  rare,  and  unfit  for  the 
purposes  of  animal  life ;  that  its  climates,  its 
seasons,  and  the  length  of  its  days,  totally  differ 
from  ours ;  that  without  dense  clouds  (which 
the  moon  has  not)  there  can  be  no  rain — per 
haps  no  rivers,  no  lakes.  In  short,  that  not 
withstanding  the  similarity  which  has  been 
pointed  out,  there  seems  to  be  a  decided  differ 
ence  in  the  two  planets  we  have  compared. 

"  My  answer  to  this  will  be,  that  that  very 
difference  which  is  now  objected  will  rather 
strengthen  the  force  of  my  argument  than  lessen 
its  value :  We  find  even  upon  our  globe,  that 
there  is  the  most  striking  difference  in  the  situa 
tion  of  the  creatures  that  live  upon  it.  While 


102  MOKE  WORLDS  THAN  ONE. 

man  walks  upon  the  ground,  the  birds  fly  in 
the  air,  and  fishes  swim  in  water,  we  can  cer 
tainly  not  object  to  the  convenience  afforded  by 
the  moon,  if  those  that  are  to  inhabit  its  regions 
are  fitted  to  their  conditions  as  well  as  we  on 
this  globe  are  to  ours.  An  absolute  or  total 
sameness  seems  rather  to  denote  imperfections 
such  as  nature  never  exposes  to  our  view ;  and 
on  this  account,  I  believe  the  analogies  that  have 
been  mentioned  sufficient  to  establish  the  high  pro 
bability  of  the  mooTbS  being  inhabited  like  the 
earth" 

Sir  William  Herschel  proceeds  to  put  the 
argument  in  another  shape.  He  supposes  that 
the  inhabitants  of  the  moon,  and  the  other 
satellites,  if  they  do  exist,  are  of  opinion  that 
the  earth  and  the  other  primary  planets  are  of 
no  other  use  but  as  lamps,  and  "  attractive 
centres  to  direct  their  revolution  round  the 
sun ;"  and  then  he  asks,  "if  we  ought  not  to 
condemn  their  ignorance  as  proceeding  from 
want  of  attention  and  proper  reflection?" 

From  these  considerations  Sir  William  thinks 
that  the  inhabitants  of  the  planets  ought  to  be 
wiser  than  we  have  supposed  those  of  their  sa- 


THE   SUN  AND   THE   SATELLITES.         103 

tellites  to  be.  "  From  experience,"  he  adds, 
"  we  can  affirm,  that  the  performance  of  the 
most  salutary  offices  to  inferior  planets  is  not 
inconsistent  with  the  dignity  of  superior  pur 
poses  ;  and  in  consequence  of  such  analogical 
reasonings,  assisted  by  telescopic  views  which 
plainly  favor  the  same  opinion,  we  need  not 
hesitate  to  admit  that  the  sun  is  richly  stored 
with  inhabitants" 

From  the  phenomena  of  variable  stars  which 
Sir  William  supposes  to  arise  from  their  having 
spots,  and  revolving  about  an  axis,  he  considers 
it  as  hardly  admitting  of  a  doubt  that  the  fixed 
stars  are  suns ;  and  he  comes  to  the  conclusion, 
that  "if  stars  are  suns,  and  suns  inhabitable, 
we  see  at  once  what  an  extensive  field  of  anima 
tion  opens  itself  to  our  view."  "It  is  true,"  he 
adds,  "  that  analogy  may  induce  us  to  conclude, 
that  since  stars  appear  to  be  suns,  and  suns, 
according  to  the  common  opinion,  are  bodies 
that  serve  to  enlighten,  warm,  and  sustain  a 
system  of  planets,  we  may  have  an  idea  of  num 
berless  globes  that  serve  for  the  habitation  of 
living  creatures.  But  if  these  suns  themselves 
are  primary  planets,  we  may  see  some  thousands 


104  MORE   WORLDS   THAISi    ONE. 

of  them  with  our  own  eyes,  and  millions  by  the 
help  of  telescopes ;  when,  at  the  same  time,  the 
same  analogical  reasoning  still  remains  in  full 
force,  with  regard  to  the  planets  which  these  suns 
may  support.*" 

The  opinion  of  so  distinguished  an  astrono 
mer,  and  so  excellent  a  man  as  Sir  William 
Herschel,  cannot  fail  to  have  much  weight  on  a 
subject  like  this ;  but  though  we  are  desirous  of 
strengthening  rather  than  of  controverting  his 
arguments,  there  are  yet  some  difficulties  to  be 
removed,  and  some  additional  analogies  to  be 
adduced,  before  the  mind  can  admit  the  startling 
proposition,  that  the  sun,  moon,  and  all  the  sat 
ellites,  are  inhabited  spheres.  We  may  reject 
this  opinion,  and  yet  believe  implicitly  in  a 
plurality  of  worlds. 

In  giving  an  account  of  these  views  of  Sir 
William  Herschel,  Dr.  Thomas  Youngf  has  re 
marked  that  "no  clouds,  however  dense,  could 
impede  the  transmission  of  the  sun's  heat  to  the 
parts  below  ;"  and  that  "  if  every  other  circum 
stance  permitted  human  beings  to  reside  upon 

*  Philosophical  Transactions,  1795,  pp.  65-69;  and  1801,  p.  29« 
f  Elements  of  Natural  Philosophy,  vol.  i.  pp.  501,  502. 


THE   SUN   AND   THE   SATELLITES.         105 

it,  their  own  weight  would  present  an  insuper 
able  difficulty,  since  it  would  become  nearly 
thirty  times  as  great  as  upon  the  surface  of  the 
earth,  a  man  of  moderate  dimensions  weighing 
above  two  tons"  The  first  of  these  difficulties 
has  certainly  no  weight  If  the  heat  of  the 
sun's  rays  is  proportional  to  its  light,  which  it 
must  be  if  it  is  a  flame,  the  darkness  of  the  sun's 
nucleus  becomes  a  measure  of  its  coolness.  Even 
a  human  being  might  live  and  breathe  upon  the 
solid  nucleus  under  the  heat  which  is  indicated 
by  seven  rays  out  of  a  thousand.  The  second 
objection  is  equally  inapplicable,  because  Sir' 
William  has  never  asserted,  and  never  did  be 
lieve,  that  the  children  of  the  sun  were  to  be 
human  beings,  but,  on  the  contrary,  creatures 
"  fitted  to  their  condition  as  well  as  we  on  this 
globe  are  to  ours." 

It  has  been  stated  as  an  objection  to  the  prob 
ability  of  the  sun's  being  inhabited,  that  the 
whole  firmament  would  be  hid  by  the  double  at 
mosphere  with  which  he  is  surrounded,  and  that 
the  solar  inhabitants  would  be  excluded  from 
all  knowledge  of  the  planets  which  he  guides, 
and  of  the  sidereal  universe  of  which  he  is  a 


106  MORK   WORLDS   TITAN   ONE. 

part.  This,  however,  is  not  strictly  true.  The 
planets  and  stars  would  be  seen  distinctly 
through  the  numerous  openings  in  the  solar 
atmosphere,  and  as  the  sun's  surface  is  compar 
atively  near  to  these  openings,  large  portions 
of  the  heavens  would  be  thus  exposed  to  view. 
In  many  parts  of  our  own  globe  weeks  pass  away 
without  our  seeing  the  sun  or  the  stars,  and  it 
cannot  be  doubted  that  the  inhabitants  of  the 
sun  might  study  astronomy  through  the  casual 
openings  in  the  luminous  cupola  which  encloses 
them. 

The  probability  of  the  sun  being  inhabited  is 
doubtless  greatly  increased  by  the  simple  consid 
eration  of  its  enormous  size.  Admitting,  with 
Sir  William  Herschel,  that  the  sun  may  have  a 
temperature  adapted  even  for  human  constitu 
tions,  it  is  difficult  to  believe  that  a  globe  of  such 
magnificence,  88,000  miles  in  diameter,  and 
upwards  of  one  hundred  times  the  size  of  our 
earth,  should  occupy  so  distinguished  a  place 
without  intelligent  beings  to  study  and  admire 
the  grand  arrangements  which  exist  around 
them ;  and  it  would  be  still  more  difficult  to  be 
lieve,  if  it  is  inhabited,  that  a  domain  so  exten- 


THE   SUN  AND  THE   SATELLITES.          107 

sive;  so  blessed  with,  perpetual  light,  is  not  occu 
pied  by  the  highest  orders  of  intelligence.  In 
the  material  world  with  which  we  are  connected, 
life  everywhere  meets  our  eye.  It  is  virtually 
almost  a  property  of  matter,  and  therefore  to 
conceive  huge  masses  of  matter,  that  are  warmed 
and  heated,  destitute  of  life,  is  to  do  violence  to 
our  strongest  convictions.  Those  who  believe 
life  to  be  the  result  of  second  causes,  must  be 
lieve  in  its  universal  diffusion  ;  and  those  who 
have  the  conviction,  that  into  every  living  thing 
the  Almighty  must  breathe  its  breath,  will  find 
it  difficult  to  believe  that  the  life  which  swarms 
around  him  on  the  earth,  the  ocean,  and  the 
air,  of  his  own  planet,  has  been  denied  to  the 
other  bodies  of  the  system.  Universal  life  upon 
universal  matter  is  an  idea  to  which  the  mind 
instinctively  clings.  Kingdoms  without  kings 
and  subjects — continents  without  cities — cities 
without  citizens- — houses  without  families — 
ships  without  crews,  and  railway  trains  without 
passengers,  are  contingencies  as  probable  as  so 
lar  systems  without  planets,  or  planets  without 
inhabitants. 

To  the  arguments  so  well  stated  by  Sir  Wil- 


108  MORE  WORLDS  THAN  ONE. 

liam  Herschel  in  favor  of  his  opinion  that  the 
moon  is  inhabited,  some  important  considera 
tions  may  be  added.  The  moon  certainly  has 
neither  clouds  nor  seas  ;  but  this  is  no  reason 
why  she  may  not  have  an  atmosphere,  and  a 
precipitation  of  moisture  upon  her  surface,  suffi 
cient  for  the  support  of  vegetable  life.  The 
moon  may  have  streams  or  even  rivers  that  lose 
themselves,  as  some  of  our  own  do,  either  in  the 
dry  ground,  or  in  subterranean  cavities.  There 
may  be  springs  too,  and  wells  sufficient  for  the 
use  of  man  ;  and  yet  the  evaporation  from  the 
water  thus  diffused  may  be  insufficient  for  the 
formation  of  clouds,  and  consequently  for  the 
production  of  rain.  The  air  may  be  charged 
to  such  a  small  extent  with  aqueous  vapor,  that 
it  descends  only  in  gentle  dew,  to  be  absorbed 
by  vegetation,  and  again  returned  to  the  atmos 
phere.  Even  in  our  own  planet  there  are  re 
gions  of  some  extent  where  rain  never  falls,* 
and  where  the  aqueous  vapor  in  the  atmosphere 
descends  only  in  refreshing  dew. 

Although  Sir  John  Herschel  has  stated  that 

*  See  Johnston's  Physical  Atlas. 


THE   SUN   AND  THE   SATELLITES.         109 

there  are  no  decisive  indications  of  an  atmos 
phere  in  the  moon,  yet  he  has  given  the  follow 
ing  very  ingenious  theory  of  the  climate  of  the 
moon,  which  implies  the^existence  of  an  atmos 
phere,  and  even  of  running  water :  "  The  cli 
mate  of  the, moon  must  be  very  extraordinary ; 
the  alternations  being  that  of  "unmitigated  and 
burning  sunshine  fiercer  than  an  equatorial 
noon,  continued  for  a  whole  fortnight,  and  the 
keenest  severity  of  frost,  far  exceeding  that  of 
our  polar  winters,  for  an  equal  time.  Such  a 
disposition  of  things  must  produce  a  constant 
transfer  of  whatever  moisture  may  exist  on  its 
surface,  from  the  point  beneath  the  sun  to  that 
opposite,  by  distillation  in  vacuo,  after  the  man 
ner  of  the  little  instrument  called  a  cryophorus. 
The  consequence  must  be  absolute  aridity  be 
low  the  vertical  sun,  constant  accretion  of  hoar 
frost  in  the  opposite  region,  and  perhaps  a  nar 
row  zone  of  running  water  at  the  borders  of  the 
enlightened  hemisphere.  It  is  possible,  then, 
that  evaporation  on  the  one  hand,  and  conden 
sation  on  the  other,  may,  to  a  certain  extent, 
preserve  an  equilibrium  of  temperature,  and 
mitigate  the  extreme  severity  of  both  climates ; 
10 


110  MORE  WORLDS  THAN   ONE. 

but  tins  process,  which,  would  imply  the  con 
tinual  generation  and  destruction  of  an  atmos 
phere  of  aqueous  vapor,  must,  in  conformity 
with  what  has  been  said  above  of  a  lunar  at 
mosphere,  be  confined  within  very  narrow 
limits." 

In  some  of  the  principal  craters,  Sir  John 
Herschel  tells  us  "  that  there  are  decisive  marks 
of  volcanic  stratification,  arising  from  success 
ive  deposits  of  ejected  matter,  and  evident  in 
dications  of  lava  currents  ;"  and  he  admits  that 
"there  are  large  regions  perfectly  level,  and 
apparently  of  a  decided  alluvial  character" — 
conditions  of  the  moon's  surface,  which  demon 
strate  that  there  has  been  an  atmosphere  to 
promote  combustion,  and  water  to  produce  an 
alluvion.  We  do  not  understand  how  modern 
writers  on  astronomy  have  overlooked  so  com 
pletely  the  many  arguments  for  the  existence 
of  an  atmosphere  in  the  moon,  which  have  been 
almost  universally  admitted.  Facts  observed  a 
century  ago  by  astronomers  distinguished  for 
their  accuracy,  are  not  less  important  because 
they  have  not  been  observed  by  their  successors. 
Volcanoes  may  have  been  seen  in  the  moon  in 


THE   SUN  AND   THE   SATELLITES.         Ill 

the  18th  century,  though  they  have  not  been 
observed  in  the  19th ;  and  a  decided  indication 
of  atmospheric  action  to-day,  will  not  be  dis 
proved  by  its  invisibility  to-morrow. 

That  volcanoes  or  burning  regions  have  been 
observed  in  the  dark  portion  of  the  moon's 
disc,  cannot  be  doubted.  In  1772,  Beccaria, 
and  in  1778,  Ulloa,  observed  a  bright  white  spot 
on  the  moon's  disc.  The  spot  observed  by  Ulloa 
and  other  three  observers,  resembled  an  opening 
in  the  moon  ;  but  Beccaria  was  of  opinion  that 
this  spot,  as  well  as  the  one  seen  by  himself,  was 
the  flame  of  a  burning  mountain.  Various  other 
persons  have  seen  phenomena  of  the  same  kind ; 
but  all  doubt  upon  this  subject  was  removed 
when  so  accurate  an  observer  as  Sir  William 
Herschel  announced  the  discovery  of  volcanoes 
in  the  moon.  On  the  4th  May,  1783,  he  per 
ceived  a  luminous  spot  in  the  obscure  part  of 
the  moon,  and  two  mountains  which  were  formed 
from  the  4tth  to  the  13th  of  May  !  On  the  19th 
April,  1787,  he  perceived  "  three  volcanoes  in 
different  places  of  the  dark  part  of  the  moon. 
Two  of  them  were  already  nearly  extinct,  or 
otherwise  in  a  state  going  to  break  out,  which 


112  MORE   WORLDS   THAN   ONE.- 

perhaps  may  be  decided  next  lunation.  The 
third  shows  an  actual  eruption  of  fire,  or  lumin 
ous  matter.  On  the  day  following  the  volcano 
was  burning  with  greater  violence  than  the 
night  before,  and  he  found  it  equal  to  twice 
the  size  of  the  second  satellite  of  Jupiter,  and 
consequently,  above  three  miles  in  diameter. 
Sir  "William  observed  that  the  eruption  resem 
bled  a  piece  of  burning  charcoal.  The  exist 
ence  of  recent  volcanoes  may  therefore  be 
considered  as  a  proof  that  the  moon  has  an 
atmosphere. 

Although  Sir  John  Herschel  broadly  asserts, 
that  in  the  occultations  of  stars  and  planets  by 
the  moon,  there  is  no  appearance  whatever  of 
an  atmosphere  ;  yet  we  have  many  facts  which 
stand  in  direct  opposition  to  this  statement. 
Cassini  assures  us,  that  he  frequently  observed 
the  circular  figure  of  Jupiter,  Saturn,  and  the 
fixed  stars  changed  into  an  elliptical  one,  when 
they  approached  either  the  dark  or  the  illumin 
ated  limb  of  the  moon.  Mr.  Dunn  saw  Saturn 
and  his  ring  emerge  from  the  moon's  limb  like 
a  comet ;  and  M.  Schroeter  of  Lilienthal,  with 
fine  telescopes,  observed  "  several  obscurations 


THE   SUN   AND   THE   SATELLITES.         113 

and  returning  serenity,  eruptions,  and  other 
changes  in  the  lunar  atmosphere.  The  same 
astronomer  discovered  the  twilight  of  the  moon 
at  the  extremity  of  its  cusps,  and  he  found  by 
measurement,  that  the  inferior  or  more  dense 
part  of  the  moon's  atmosphere  was  not  above 
1,500  feet,  or  the  third  of  a  mile  high,  while 
the  height  of  the  atmosphere  where  it  could 
affect  the  brightness  of  a  fixed  star,  is  not  above 
6,742  feet,  or  not  much  more  than  a  mile. 
Hence  we  see  the  reason  why  changes  are  only 
occasionally  produced  upon  stars  occulted  by 
the  moon.  Her  atmosphere  is  greatly  lower  than 
her  mountains.  "When  the  stars,  therefore,  en 
ter,  or  emerge  from,  behind  mountains  higher 
than  her  atmosphere,  they  are  not  affected  by 
refraction  ;  and  when  behind  mountains  or  level 
plains  lower  than  her  atmosphere,  they  are  af 
fected  by  the  refraction  of  the  superincumbent 
air. 

It  is  evident,  therefore,  from  all  these  facts, 
that  in  her  volcanoes,  active  and  extinct,  in  her 
twilight,  and  in  her  action  upon  immerging 
and  emerging  stars,  the  moon  exhibits  such 
proofs  of  an  atmosphere,  that  we  have  a  new 
10* 


114  MOKE   WOULD S   THAN    ONE. 

ground  from  analogy  for  believing  that  she 
either  has  inhabitants,  or  is  in  a  state  of  prepa 
ration  for  receiving  them. 

Had  the  moon  been  destined  to  be  merely  a 
lamp  to  our  earth,  there  was  no  occasion  to 
variegate  its  surface  with  lofty  mountains  and 
valleys  and  extinct  volcanoes,  and  cover  it  with 
large  patches  of  matter,  that  reflect  different 
quantities  of  light,  and  give  its  surface  the  ap 
pearance  of  continents  and  seas.  It  would  have 
been  a  better  lamp  had  it  been  a  smooth  sphere 
of  lime  or  of  chalk.  The  existence  of  extinct 
volcanoes,  the  upheaval  of  lofty  mountains,  are 
proofs  of  a  progression  in  its  physical  history — 
of  a  preparation,  perhaps  long  ago  made,  for 
the  reception  of  inhabitants.  That  it  is  not 
now  preparing  may  be  inferred  from  the  ab 
sence  of  every  appearance  of  change,  since  its 
surface  has  been  studied  by  astronomers. 

If  it  is  probable,  then,  that  the  moon  is  in 
habited,  the  same  degree  of  probability  may  be 
extended  to  all  the  other  satellites  of  the  system. 
Their  great  distance  from  the  earth  prevents  us 
from  examining  their  surface  ;  but  even  without 
any  indication  of  mountains  and  valleys,  or  of 


THE   SUN"  AND  THE   SATELLITES.         115 

any  forces  that  have  disturbed  or  are  still  dis 
turbing  their  surface,  analogy  compels  us  to 
conclude,  that  like  all  other  material  spheres, 
they  must  have  been  created  for  the  double 
purpose  of  giving  light  to  their  primary  plan 
ets,  and  a  home  to  animal  and  intellectual  life. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE   MOTION  OF  THE  SOLAR  SYSTEM  ROUND  A 
DISTANT   CENTRE. 

HAD  our  Sun,  with  all  the  planets  and  comets 
which  he  controls,  been  absolutely  fixed  in 
space,  our  system  could  have  had  no  connection 
with  the  other  systems  of  the  universe.  The 
immense  void  which  separates  it  from  the  stars, 
would  have  been  regarded  as  the  barrier  which 
confined  it.  Astronomers,  however,  have  not 
only  placed  it  beyond  a  doubt  that  the  Solar 
system  is  advancing  in  absolute  space,  but  have 
determined  the  direction  in  which  it  moves, 
and  within  certain  limits  the  velocity  of  its 
motion.  This  great  cosmical  truth,  the  grand 
est  in  astronomy,  will  furnish  us  with  a  new 
argument  for  a  plurality  of  worlds. 

The  first  astronomer  who  suggested  the  idea 
of  such  a  motion,  was  the  celebrated  Dr.  Halley,* 

*  Phil.  Trans.,  1718,  No.  355,  i,  v.  vi. 


MOTION   OF   THE   SOLAR  SYSTEM.         117 

who  was  led  to  it  by  comparing  the  places  of 
Sirius,  Arcturus,  and  Aldebaran,  as  determined 
by  the  observations  of  Hipparchus  and  Flam- 
steed.  The  French  astronomers,  Cassini  and  Le 
Monnier,  noticed  the  same  fact ;  but  it  is  to 
Tobias  Mayer*  of  Gottingen  that  we  are  in 
debted  for  a  more  complete  examination  of  the 
subject.  By  comparing  the  places  of  eighty 
fixed  stars,  as  determined  by  Eoemer  in  1706, 
with  their  places  as  observed  by  Lacaille  in 
1750,  and  himself  in  1756,  he  found  that  the 
greater  number  of  them  had  a  proper  motion, 
that  is,  a  motion  that  could  not  be  explained 
by  any  cause  connected  with  the  motion  of  our 
earth  in  its  orbit,  or  upon  its  axis.  In  order  to 
explain  this  motion,  he  suggested  that  it  might 
arise  from  a  progressive  motion  of  the  sun  to 
one  quarter  of  the  heavens,  in  consequence  of 
which  the  stars  to  which  he  was  approaching 
would  appear  to  recede  from  each  other,  while 
those  in  the  opposite  region  from  which  he  was 
moving  would  appear  to  approach  one  another ; 
and  he  illustrated  this  idea  by  supposing  a  per 
son  walking  in  a  field  surrounded  by  trees,  in 

*  Opera  Inedita,  1775.    De  Motufixarum  propno,  pp.  77-81. 


118  MOKE  WORLDS  THAN  ONE. 

which  case  the  trees 'to  which  he  approached 
would  appear  to  separate,  or  their  distance  to 
increase,  while  those  which  he  left  behind  would 
appear  to  approach  to  one  another,  or  their  dis 
tance  to  diminish,  the  trees  on  his  right  and 
left  hand  preserving  the  same  apparent  distance 
from  each  other.  This  was  the  true  cause  of 
the  proper  motion  of  the  stars,  but  owing  to 
the  imperfection  of  astronomical  instruments  in 
the  time  of  Eoemer,  and  even  in  Mayer's  time, 
the  observed  proper  motions  did  not  correspond 
with  his  explanation  of  it ;  and  he  quitted  the 
subject  with  the  remark,  that  many  centuries 
must  elapse  before  the  true  cause  of  this  mo 
tion  can  be  explained. 

Astronomy,  however,  was  advancing  more 
rapidly  than  its  most  ardent  votaries  imagined, 
and,  before  a  single  century  elapsed,  the  motion 
of  the  solar  system  in  space,  as  the  cause  of  the 
proper  motion  of  the  stars,  became  a  great 
truth,  which  commanded  the  assent  and  admir 
ation  of  every  cultivator  of  astronomy. 

Although  Dr.  Wilson*  of  Glasgow  had  point 
ed  out,  on  theoretical  principles,  the  probability 

*  Thoughts  on  General  Gravitation,  1777. 


MOTION   OF   THE   SOLAR   SYSTEM.         119 

of  a  progressive  motion  of  the  Sun,  and  Lam 
bert*  and  La  Landef  had  deduced  it  from  the 
idea,  that  the  same  mechanical  impulse  which 
gave  the  sun  its  rotatory  motion  upon  its  axis, 
would  displace  its  centre,  and  give  it  a  motion 
of  translation,  yet  it  was  not  till  Sir  William 
Herschel,^  in  1783,  analysed  the  accurate  ob 
servations  of  Dr.  Maskelyne  on  thirty -five  fixed 
stars,  that  a  decided  step  was  made  in  the  in 
vestigation.  He  found  that,  in  1790,  the  solar 
system  was  advancing  to  the  star  A  in  the  con 
stellation  Hercules,  or  to  a  point  in  the  heavens 
whose  right  ascension  is  260°  34/,  and  north 
declination  26°  17'.  By  similar  calculations, 
M.  Prevost§  found  the  right  ascension  of  the 
same  point  to  be  230°,  with  north  declination 
25 D ;  and  M.  Klugel|  made  it  260°,  with  north 
declination  27°,< — a  result  almost  the  same  as 
that  of  Sir  William  Herschel. 

It  would  be  inconsistent  with  the  nature  of 
an  Essay  like  this  to  enter  into  more  minute 
details  upon  this  subject.  We  shall,  there- 

*  Systeme  du  Monde,  pp.  152-158  ;  and  Lettres  Cosmologiques,  1761, 
).  126,  t  Mem.  A  cad.  Par.  1776,  p.  513. 

%  Phil.  Trans.,  1783,  p.  247  ;  1805,  pp.  233-256. 
S  Mem.  Acad.  Berlin,  1781.  |  Berlin  Ephemeris,  1789. 


120  MOKE   WORLDS   THAN   ONE. 

fore,  give  a  tabular  view  of  the  results  which 
have  been  obtained  from  places  of  the  fixed 
stars,  taken  with  the  more  accurate  instruments 
of  the  present  day,  at  the  principal  Observa 
tories  in  Europe,  and  by  the  accomplished 
astronomers  that  direct  them  : — 

EIGHT  ASCENSION  AND  DECLINATION  OF  THE  POINT  TO  WHICH 
THE  SOLAR  SYSTEM  is  ADVANCING. 


Observers, 

Argelander     I. 

Rio;ht                Probable 
Ascension.              Error. 

256°  25'-l  ±  12°  21"3 

North             Probable 
Declination.         Error. 

38°  37'-2  ±  9°  21  '-4 

No. 
of  Stan 
used, 
21 

Argelander  II. 

255°    9'-7  ±   8°  34'-0 

38°  34'-3  ±  5°  55  '-6 

50 

Argelander  III. 

261°  10"7  ±   3°  48'-9 

30°58'-1  ±  2°3J'-4 

319 

Lundahl      IV. 

252°  24'-4  ±   5°  25'-3 

14°  2G'-1  ±  4°  29'-3 

147 

Otto  Strove  V. 

261°  23"!  ±    4°  49"9 

37°  35'-7  ±  4°  ll'-8 

392 

Mean  result  VI.      259°    9'-4  ±   2°  57'-5        34°  3G'-5  ±  3'  24'-5 

The  signs  +  and  —  in  this  table  indicate 
that  the  probable  error  may  extend  on  each 
side  of  the  tabular  number,  by  the  quantities 
before  which  they  are  placed. 

As  the  stars  from  which  the  preceding  de 
ductions  have  been  made  were  those  which  are 
visible  in  the  Observatories  of  Europe,  it  became 
interesting  to  determine  the  point  to  which 
the  Solar  system  was  moving,  from  the  propel 
motion  of  the  stars  that  are  visible  in  the 
Southern  hemisphere.  This  investigation  has 


MOTION   OF  THE   SOLAR  SYSTEM.         121 

been  lately  made  by  our  distinguished  coun* 
try -man,  Mr.  Thomas  Galloway,*"  by  means  of 
eighty-one  stars  that  were  observed  by  Lacaille 
in  1751  and  1752,  compared  with  those  observ 
ed  by  Mr.  Johnson  at  St.  Helena  in  1829-1833, 
and  by  our  countryman,  Mr.  Henderson,  at  the 
Cape,  in  1830-1831.  The  result  of  this  inquiry 
is,  that  the  point  of  space  to  which  our  Sun  is 
approaching  is  situated  in 

Observer.  R.  Ascension.  N.  Declination,    Prob.  Error. 

Galloway,  VII.       260°    O'-G  ±  4°3l"4          34°  23 '-4  ±  5°  17'-2 

General  Mean,  VIII.       259°  35"0  ±  3°  44'-4          34°  30' -0  ±  4°  20'-8 

Hence  it  appears,  that  the  result  obtained 
from  the  southern  stars  agrees  with  that  from 
the  northern  ones,  within  25'  of  right  ascension, 
and  7'  of  declination,  a  coincidence  so  extraor 
dinary  as  to  amount  to  a  demonstration  of  the 
great  physical  truth  which  it  indicates. 

But  astronomers  have  not  been  satisfied  with 
merely  determining  the  direction  to  which  the 
Sun,  with  all  his  planets,  is  advancing  in  space : 
They  have  calculated,  within  certain  limits  of 
error,  the  velocity  with  which  they  move  I 
Assuming  the  parallax  of  stars  of  the  first 

•  Phil.  Trans.,  1847. 


122  MORE   WORLDS   THAN   ONE. 

magnitude  to  be  O''*209,  as  determined  by  his 
father,  M.  Otto  Struve  finds  that  the  angular 
value  of  the  annual  motion  of  the  Solar  system, 
if  seen  at  right  angles  from  the  distance  of  such 
a  star,  is  0"*3392,  with  a  probable  error  of 
Q"-03623  ;  and  taking  the  radius  of  the  Earth's 

orbit  as  unity,  we  have  ^|j|  or  1-623,  with  a 

probable  error  of  O229,  as  the  annual  motion 
of  the  Sun  in  space,  reckoned  in  radii  of  the 
Earth's  orbit.  That  is,  taking  95  millions  of 
miles  as  the  mean  radius  of  the  earth's  orbit, 
we  have  95  X  1*623  154185  millions  of 
miles,  and  consequently — 

English  Miles. 

The  velocity  of  the  Solar  system  154,185,000  in  the  year. 


Do.  do. 

Do.  do. 

Do.  do. 

Do.  do. 


422,424  in  a  day. 
17,601  in  an  hour. 
293  in  a  minute. 
57  in  a  second. 


"Here,  then,"  says-M.  Struve,  senior,  "  we 
have  the  splendid  result  of  the  united  studies 
of  MM.  Argelander,  O.  Struve,  and  Peters, 
grounded  on  observations  made  at  the  three 
Observatories  of  Dorpat,  Abo,  and  Pulkova,  and 
which  is  expressed  in  the  following  thesis : — 
*  The  motion  of  the  Solar  system  in  space  is 


MOTION   OF  THE   SOLAR  SYSTEM.        123 

directed  to  a  point  of  the  celestial  vault,  situated, 
on  the  right  line  which  joins  the  two  stars  a 
and  p  Herculis,  at  a  quarter  of  the  apparent 
distance  between  these  stars  from  n  Herculis. 
The  velocity  of  this  motion  is  such,  that  the 
Sun,  with  all  the  bodies  which  depend  upon 
him,  advances  annually  in  the  above  direction 
1*623  times  the  radius  of  the  Earth's  orbit,  or 
33,550,000  geographical  miles.  The  possible 
error  of  this  last  number  amounts  to  1,733,000 
geographical  miles,  or  a  seventh  of  the  whole 
value.  We  may  thus  wager  400,000  to  1  that 
the  Sun  has  a  proper  progressive  motion,  and 
1  to  1  that  it  is  comprised  between  the  limits 
of  38  and  29  millions  of  geographical  miles.'  "* 
As  there  is  no  such  thing  in  the  heavens  as 
a  rectilineal  motion,  it  is  evident  that  the  Sun, 
with  all  his  planets  and  comets,  is  in  rapid 
.motion  round  an  invisible  body.f  To  that 
now  dark  and  mysterious  centre,  from  which 
no  ray  however  feeble  shines,  we  may,  in  an 
other  age,  point  our  telescopes,  detecting,  per 
chance,  the  great  luminary  which  controls  our 

*  Etudes  d'Astronomie  Stellaire,  p.  108. 

t  Professor  Madler,  without  any  very  weighty  reasons,  makes  the  star 
Alcyone,  the  brightest  of  the  Pleiades,  the  centre  of  the  Sun's  orbit. 


124  MORE   WORLDS   THAN   ONE. 

system,  and  bends  its  path  into  that  vast  orbit 
which  man,  in  the  whole  cycle  of  his  race,  may 
never  be  allowed  to  round.  If  the  buried 
relics  of  primeval  life  have  taught  us  how  brief 
has  been  our  tenure  of  this  terrestrial  paradise, 
compared  with  its  occupancy  by  the  brutes  that 
perish,  the  grand  sidereal  truth  which  we  have 
been  expounding  impresses  upon  us  the  no  less 
humbling  lesson,  that  from  the  birth  of  man  to 
the  extinction  of  his  race,  the  system  to  which 
he  belongs  will  have  described  but  an  infinites 
imal  arc  in  that  grand  cosmical  orbit  in  which 
it  is  destined  to  revolve.  If  reason  ever  falters 
beneath  the  weight  of  its  conceptions,  it  is 
under  this  overwhelming  idea  of  time  and  of 
space.  One  round,  doubtless  of  this  immea 
surable  path  will  the  Sun  be  destined  to 
describe.  How  long  a  journey  has  it  been  in 
the  past !  How  brief  in  the  present !  How 
endless  in  the  future ! 

We  have  thus  endeavored  to  give  our 
readers  an  accurate  idea  of  the  nature  and 
grandeur  of  this  great  cosmical  movement,  not 
merely  because  it  will  supply  us  with  a  new 
argument  for  a  plurality  of  worlds,  but  because 


MOTION   OP  THE   SOLAR  SYSTEM.         125 

the  author  of  the  Essay  already  quoted,  who 
denies  this  great  doctrine,  has  completely  mis 
represented  the  great  truth  of  the  motion  of 
the  Solar  system.  Foreseeing  its  influence  on 
the  mind  as  an  argument  for  more  worlds  than 
one,  he  has  shunned  the  description  of  it  even 
as  a  theory,  and  represented  it  to  his  readers  as> 
among  "  the  conjectures  of  astronomers,"  and 
as  founded  upon  "  minute  inquiries  and  bold 
conjectures,"  which  he  need  not  notice,  as  they 
"have  no  bearing  on  his  subject."* 

That  the  sidereal  phenomena  thus  stigmatized 
are  not  conjectures  but  truths,  admitted  ly  every 
astronomer,  our  readers  have  seen.  That  they 
have  a  bearing  on  the  doctrine  of  a  plurality 
of  worlds  we  shall  endeavor  to  show.  The 
argument  for  a  plurality  of  worlds  may  have 
two  forms.  It  may  embrace  a  new  point  of 
analogy  between  the  inhabited  Earth  and  any 
of  the  planets,  primary  or  secondary;  and  since 
our  Solar  system  is  a  system  containing  inhab 
itants,  even  if  the  Earth  is  the  only  planet  that 
contains  them,  any  point  of  analogy  between 
that  system  and  any  other  system  of  stars  in 

*  Of  a  Plurality  of  Worlds,  pp.  157, 158. 
11* 


126  MORE  WORLDS  THAN  ONE. 

which,  there  is  a  distinct  movement  of  one  star 
round  another,  becomes  an  argument  for  the 
existence  of  inhabitants,  or  of  an  inhabited 
planet  in  the  other.  It  may  have  also  a  second 
form,  namely,  that  which  is  called  a  reductio 
ad  absurdum,  that  is,  an  argument  in  which  it 
is  shown  that  the  opposite  opinion  is  an  absurd 
ity.  The  strictest  truths  in  geometry  have 
been  considered  as  demonstrated  by  this  species 
of  argument,  and  it  is  still  more  applicable  in 
the  present  case,  where  mathematical  certainty 
cannot  be  reached,  because  there  may  be  dif 
ferent  degrees  of  absurdity,  and  we  may  have 
an  argumentum  ad  absurdiorem,  and  an  argu- 
raentum  ad  dbsurdissimum. 

To  illustrate  this,  let  us  suppose  that,  at  a 
certain  period  in  the  history  of  astronomy,  the 
Earth  was  believed  to  be  the  only  planet  that 
moved  round  the  Sun.  The  astronomer  of  that 
day  must  have  thought  it  strange  that  a  sun 
88,000  miles  in  diameter  should  be  employed 
to  light  and  to  heat  a  planet  only  8,000  miles 
in  diameter,  as  a  smaller  sun  nearer  the  Earth 
would  have  been  sufficient  for  the  purpose. 
When  Venus  was  discovered  and  found  to  be  a 


MOTION  OF  THE  SOLAR  SYSTEM.          127 

planet  of  the  same  size  as  the  Earth,  with  moun 
tains  and  valleys,  days  and  nights,  and  years 
analogous  to  our  own,  astronomers  could  not 
fail  to  think  it  probable  that  she  was  inhabited 
like  the  Earth  ;  and  the  absurdity  of  believing 
that  she  had  no  inhabitants,  when  no  other 
rational  purpose  could  be  assigned  for  her  crea 
tion,  became  an  argument  of  a  certain  amount 
that  she  was  like  the  Earth,  the  seat  of  animal 
and  vegetable  life.  When  Jupiter  was  dis 
covered,  and  was  found  to  be  so  gigantic  a 
planet  that  it  required  four  moons  to  give  him 
light,  the  argument  from  analogy  that  he  was 
inhabited  became  stronger,  from  the  fact  of  his 
having  moons,  and  the  argument  for  a  plurality 
of  worlds  became  stronger  also,  because  the 
analogy  was  extended  to  two  planets.  In  like 
manner,  every  discovery  of  a  new  planet,  either 
with  new  points  of  analogy,  or  with  those  pre 
viously  existing  in  other  planets,  became  an 
additional  argument  from  analogy ;  and  when 
the  system  was  completed  with  Saturn,  Uranus, 
Neptune,  and  their  numerous  satellites,  and 
when  astronomers  had  discovered  the  existence 
of  atmospheres,  and  clouds,  and  arctic  snows, 


128  MORE   WORLDS  THAN   ONE. 

and  trade  winds  in  Saturn,  Jupiter,  Mars,  and 
Venus,  the  argument  from  analogy  attained  a 
degree  of  force  which  it  had  not  in  the  time  of 
Fontenelle ;  and  the  absurdity  of  the  opposite 
opinion  that  planets  should  have  moons  and  no 
inhabitants,  atmospheres  with  no  creatures  to 
breathe  in  them,  and  currents  of  air  without  life 
to  be  fanned,  became  a  formidable  argument 
which  few  minds,  if  any,  could  resist. 

Considering  then  the  Solar  system  as  station 
ary  in  space,  and  unconnected  with  any  other 
system,  the  argument  for  the  existence  of  inhab 
itants  on  its  planets,  has  a  certain  fixed  value 
compounded  of  the  argument  from  analogy,  and 
the  degree  of  absurdity  which  attaches  to  the 
idea  of  the  planets  being  lumps  of  moving  mat 
ter  shone  upon,  and  shining  in  vain.  But  when 
we  have  proved  that  this  Solar  system  is  revolv 
ing  round  some  distant  centre  in  an  orbit  of 
such  inconceivable  dimensions  that  millions  of 
years  might  be  required  to  perform  one  single 
round : — When  we  consider  that  this  distant 
centre  must  be  a  sun,  with  attendant  planets 
like  our  own,  revolving  in  like  manner  round 
our  sun,  or  round  their  common  centre  of  grav- 


MOTION  OF  THE  SOLAR  SYSTEM.         129 

ity,  the  mind  rejects,  almost  with  indignation, 
the  ignoble  sentiment  that  man  is  the  only 
being  that  performs  this  immeasurable  journey, 
and  that  Jupiter,  and  Saturn,  and  Uranus,  and 
Neptune,  with  their  bright  array  of  regal  train- 
bearers,  are  but  colossal  blocks  of  lifeless  clay 
encumbering  the  Earth  as  a  drag,  and  mocking 
the  creative  majesty  of  heaven. 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  illustrate  these  views 
by  more  familiar  similitudes.  The  architect  of 
a  solar  system  stationary  in  space,  and  with  but 
one  of  its  smallest  planets  inhabited,  may  in 
some  degree  be  likened  to  a  sovereign,  who,  in 
sending  a  military  colony  to  cultivate  and  de 
fend  an  island  in  the  Pacific,  engaged  twenty- 
five  soldiers,  one  of  whom  was  a  light  infantry 
man,  who  did  all  the  honors  and  duties  of  the 
island,  while  the  other  twenty-four  were  tall 
and  powerful  grenadiers,  who  enjoyed  them 
selves  day  and  night  upon  merry-go-rounds, 
heated  by  genial  fires,  and  lighted  by  brilliant 
chandeliers  of  gas,  but  performing  no  useful 
work,  and  doing  no  honor  to  their  king.  The 
Creator  of  the  same  solar  system  launched  into 
an  orbit  of  immeasurable  circuit,  and  wheeling 


130  MORE   WORLDS   THAN   ONE. 

through,  ether  with  the  velocity  of  fifty-seven 
miles  in  a  second,  may  have  some  resemblance 
to  a  mighty  autocrat,  who  should  establish  a 
railway  round  the  coasts  of  Europe  and  Asia, 
and  place  upon  it  an  enormous  train  of  first- 
class  carriages,  impelled  year  after  year  by  tre 
mendous  steam  power,  while  there  w as  but  a 
philosopher  and  a  culprit  in  a  humble  van,  at 
tended  by  hundreds  of  unoccupied  carriages 
and  empty  trucks ! 

Since  every  fixed  star,  considered  as  the 
centre  of  a  system,  must  have  planets  upon 
which  to  shine,  we  are  furnished  with  a  new 
argument  from  analogy,  from  the  fact  of  our 
Solar  system  revolving  round  a  similar  system 
of  planets,  for  as  there  is  at  least  one  inhabited 
planet  in  the  one  system,  there  must  for  the 
same  reason  be  one  inhabited  planet  in  the 
other,  and  consequently,  there  must  be  more 
inhabited  worlds  than  one — as  many  indeed  as 
there  are  systems  in  the  universe.  This  argu 
ment  will  be  better  understood  when  we  have 
treated,  in  a  future  chapter,  of  binary  systems 
of  stars,  to  which  the  Newtonian  law  of  gravity 
has  been  found  applicable. 


CHAPTER  vn. 

EELIGIOUS  DIFFICULTIES. 

IT  is  as  injurious  to  the  interests  of  religion, 
as  it  is  degrading  to  those  of  science,  when  the 
votaries  of  either  place  them  in  a  state  of  mu 
tual  antagonism.  A  mere  inference  or  a  theory 
in  science,  however  probable,  must  ever  give 
way  to  a  truth  revealed ;  but  a  scientific  truth 
must  be  maintained,  however  contradictory  it 
may  appear  to  the  most  cherished  doctrines  of 
religion.  In  freely  discussing  the  subject  of  a 
plurality  of  worlds,  there  can  be  no  collision 
between  Eeason  and  Eevelation.  Christians, 
timid  and  ill-formed,  have,  at  different  per 
iods,  refused  to  accept  of  certain  results  of 
science,  which,  instead  of  being  adverse  to  their 
faith,  have  been  its  best  auxiliaries ;  and  infidel 
writers,  taking  advantage  of  this  weakness, 
have  vainly  arrayed  the  discoveries  and  infer- 


182  MORE  WORLDS  THAN  ONE. 

ences  of  astronomy  against  the  fundamental 
doctrines  of  Scripture.  This  unseemly  con 
troversy,  which  once  raged  respecting  the  mo 
tion  of  the  Earth  and  the  stability  of  the  Sun, 
and  more  recently  in  reference  to  the  doctrines 
and  theories  of  geology,  terminated,  as  it  always 
must  do,  in  favor  of  science.  Truths  physical 
have  an  origin  as  divine  as  truths  religious, 
In  the  time  of  Galileo  they  triumphed  over  the 
casuistry  and  secular  power  of  the  Church ;  and 
in  our  own  day  the  incontrovertible  truths  of 
primeval  life  have  won  as  noble  a  victory  over 
the  errors  of  a  speculative  theology,  and  a  false 
interpretation  of  the  word  of  God.  Science 
ever  has  been,  and  ever  must  be  the  safeguard 
of  religion.  The  grandeur  of  her  truths  may 
transcend  our  failing  reason,  but  those  who 
cherish  and  lean  upon  truths  equally  grand, 
but  certainly  more  incomprehensible,  ought  to 
see  in  the  marvels  of  the  material  world  the 
best  defence  and  illustration  of  the  mysteries 
of  their  faith. 

In  referring  to  the  planets  of  our  own  system, 
and  to  those  which  surround  the  fixed  stars  as 
suns,  Dr.  Bentley  justly  remarks,  "  that  if  any 


RELIGIOUS  DIFFICULTIES.  133 

person  will  indulge  himself  in  this  speculation, 
he  need  not  quarrel  with  revealed  religion  upon 
such  an  account.  The  Holy  Scriptures  do  not 
forbid  him  to  suppose  as  great  a  multitude  of 
systems,  and  as  much  inhabited  as  he  pleases. 
"Pis  true  there  is  no  mention  in  Moses's  narra 
tive  of  the  creation  of  any  people  in  other 
planets.  But  it  plainly  appears  that  the  sacred 
historian  doth  only  treat  of  the  origin  of  ter 
restrial  animals  :  he  hath  given  us  no  account 
of  God's  creating  the  angels ;  and  yet  the  same 
author  in  the  ensuing  parts  of  the  Pentateuch, 
makes  not  infrequent  mention  of  the  angels  of 
God.  Neither  need  we  be  solicitous  about  the 
conditions  of  those  planetary  people,  nor  raise 
frivolous  disputes  how  far  they  may  participate 
in  Adam's  fall  or  in  the  benefits  of  Christ's  in 
carnation.  As  if  because  they  are  supposed  to 
be  Rational  they  must  needs  be  concluded  to 
be  Men"  He  then  goes  on  to  show  that  there 
maybe  "  minds  of  superior  or  meaner  capacities 
than  human  united  to  a  human  body,"  and 
"  minds  of  human  capacities  united  to  a  differ 
ent  body" "so  that  we  ought 

not  upon  any  account  to  conclude  that  if  there 


134  MOKE  WORLDS  THAN  ONE. 

be  rational  inhabitants  in  the  Moon  or  Mars,  or 
any  unknown  planets  of  other  systems,  they 
must  therefore  have  human  natures,  or  be  in 
volved  in  the  circumstances  of  our  world."* 

The  doctrine  of  a  plurality  of  worlds, — of 
the  occupation  of  the  planets  and  stars  by 
animal  and  intellectual  life,  has  been  stated  as 
"  a  popular  argument  against  Christianity  not 
much  dwelt  upon  in  books,  but  it  it  is  believed, 
a  good  deal  insinuated  in  conversation,  and 
having  no  small  influence  on  the  amateurs  of  a 
superficial  philosophy.''!  Although  we  have 
felt  that  such  a  difficulty  might  be  made  an 
objection  to  Christianity,  we  have  neither  met 
with  it  in  books  nor  in  conversation  ;  but  as  it 
has  been  so  prominently  brought  into  view  by 
Dr.  Chalmers,  and  also  by  the  author  of  the 
Essay  Of  a  Plurality  of  Worlds,  it  is  necessary 
to  ascertain  its  value,  whether  it  be  urged  by 
the  infidel  against  the  truths  of  Scripture,  or  by 
the  Christian  against  the  inferences  of  science. 

"Is  it  likely,"  as  Dr.  Chalmers  puts  it,  "  says 
the  infidel,  that  God  would  send  His  eternal 

*  On  the  Confutation  of  Atheism,  &c.,  1693,  pp.  6-8. 
f  Chalmers's  Discourses,  &c.    Discourse  I. 


RELIGIOUS  DIFFICULTIES.  135 

Son  to  die  for  the  puny  occupiers  of  so  insig 
nificant  a  province  in  the  mighty  field  of  His 
creation  ?  Are  we  the  befitting  objects  of  so 
great  and  so  signal  an  interposition  ?  Does  not 
the  largeness  of  that  field  which  Astronomy 
lays  open  to  the  view  of  modern  science,  throw 
a  suspicion  over  the  truth  of  gospel  history  ? 
and  how  shall  we  reconcile  the  greatness  of 
that  wonderful  movement  which  was  made  in 
heaven  for  the  redemption  of  fallen  man,  with 
the  comparative  meanness  and  obscurity  of  our 
species  ?" 

In  meeting  this  astronomical  objection,  Dr. 
Chalmers  states  that  it  consists  of  an  assertion, 
which  he  denies,  that  Christianity  was  estab 
lished  for  the  exclusive  benefit  of  our  minute 
and  solitary  world,  and  of  an  inference  or  argu 
ment,  that  God  would  not  lavish  "  such  a  quan 
tity  of  attention  on  so  insignificant  a  field." 
In  denying  the  assertion,  and  maintaining  that 
the  inhabitants  of  other  worlds  may  not  have 
required  a  Saviour,  Dr.  Chalmers  has  obviously 
cut  the  knot  of  the  difficulty  rather  than  untied 
it.  The  assertion  of  the  infidel,  and  the  asser 
tion  of  the  divine,  mutually  destroy  each  other. 


136  MOBPJ   WORLDS   THAN   ONE. 

The  assertion  of  the  infidel,  not  his  inference, 
has  been  maintained  very  generally  by  Christ 
ians  themselves,  and  is  indeed  a  difficulty 
which  perplexes  them.  The  assertion  of  the 
divine,  on  the  contrary,  is  one  which  very  few 
Christians  will  admit,  and  one  which  is  opposed 
to  the  very  system  of  analogy,  which  guides  us 
in  proving  a  plurality  of  worlds.  If  we  argue 
that  Jupiter,  a  planet  with  moons,  must  be  in 
habited  because  the  earth  which  has  a  moon  is 
inhabited,  is  not  the  infidel  or  the  Christian  en 
titled  to  say,  that  since  the  inhabitants  of  the 
Earth  have  sinned  and  required  a  Saviour,  the 
inhabitants  of  Jupiter  must  also  have  sinned, 
and  required  a  Saviour?  To  maintain  the  con 
trary  opinion  is  not  only  against  analogy,  but  it 
is  a  hazardous  position  for  a  divine  to  take  when 
he  maintains  it  to  be  probable  that  there  are 
intellectual  creatures  occupying  a  world  of  mat 
ter,  and  subject  to  material  laws,  and  yet  ex 
empt  from  sin,  and  consequently  from  suffering 
and  death.  A  proposition  so  extraordinary 
we  cannot  venture  to  affirm.  If  it  be  true,  the 
difficulty  of  the  sceptic  and  the  Christian  is  at 
once  removed,  because  there  can  be  no  need  of 


RELIGIOUS   DIFFICULTIES.  137 

a  Saviour ;  and  we  are  driven  to  the  extrava 
gant  conclusion,  that  the  inhabitants  of  all  the 
planets  but  our  own  are  sinless  and  immortal 
beings  that  never  broke  the  Divine  law,  and  are 
enjoying  that  perfect  felicity  which  is  reserved 
only  for  a  few  of  the  less  favored  occupants  of 
the  Earth.  Thus  chained  to  a  planet  the  lowest 
and  most  unfortunate  in  the  universe,  the  phi 
losopher,  with  all  his  analogies  broken  down, 
may  justly  renounce  his  faith  in  a  plurality  of 
worlds,  and  rejoice  in  the  more  limited  but 
safer  creed  of  the  anti-pluralist  author  who 
makes  the  Earth  the  only  world  in  the  uni 
verse,  and  the  special  object  of  God's  paternal 
care. 

We  must  not,  however,  permit  our  readers  to 
come  to  such  a  painful  conclusion.  Men  of 
lofty  minds  and  of  undoubted  piety  have  re 
garded  the  existence  of  moral  evil  as  a  part 
— a  necessary  part,  we  think,  of  the  general 
scheme  of  the  universe,  and  consequently  as 
affecting  all  its  rational  inhabitants — the  race 
of  Adam  on  our  own  globe,  and  the  races,  per 
chance,  more  glorious  than  our  own  in  the 
planets  around  us,  and  in  the  remotest  system  in 
12* 


138  MORE   WORLDS   THAN   ONE. 

space.  When  on  the  eve  of  learning  the  truth 
of  his  opinion,  the  illustrious  Huygens  did  not 
hesitate  to  affirm,  that  it  would  be  absurd  to 
suppose  that  all  things  were  made  otherwise 
than  God  willed,  and  knew  would  happen ;  and 
that  if  we  had  lived  in  continual  peace,  and 
with  an  abundant  supply  of  all  the  good  things 
of  this  life,  there  would  have  been  neither  art 
nor  science,  and  the  human  race  would  soon 
have  lived  like  the  brutes  that  perish.  And 
with  these  views  he  comes  to  the  conclusion, 
that  the  inhabitants  of  the  other  planets  must 
be  endowed  with  the  same  vices  and  virtues  as 
man,  because  without  such  vices  and  virtues 
they  would  be  far  more  degraded  than  the  oc 
cupants  of  the  Earth. 

One  of  the  most  profound  thinkers  and  ele 
gant  writers  of  the  present  day*  has  viewed  this 
subject  from  a  loftier  eminence.  "  From  the 
revealed  record,"  he  says,  "  we  learn  that  the 
dynasty  of  man  in  the  mixed  state  and  character, 
is  not  the  final  one,  but  that  there  is  to  be  yet 
another  creation,  or  more  properly  re-creation, 
known  theologically  as  the  resurrection,  which 

Mr.  Hugh  Miller,  Footprints  of  the  Creator,  pp.  301-H03. 


RELIGIOUS   DIFFICULTIES.  139 

shall  be  connected  in  its  physical  components  by 
bonds  of  mysterious  paternity,  with  the  dynasty 
which  now  reigns,  and  be  bound  to  it  mentally 
by  the  chain  of  identity,  conscious  and  actual ; 
but  which  in  all  that  constitutes  superiority, 
shall  be  as  vastly  its  superior  as  the  dynasty  of 
responsible  man  is  superior  to  even  the  lowest 
of  the  preliminary  dynasties.  We  are  farther 
taught,  that  at  the  commencement  of  this  last 
of  the  dynasties,  there  will  be  a  re-creation,  of 
not  only  elevated,  but  also  of  degraded  beings 
— a  recreation  of  the  lost.  We  are  taught  yet 
farther,  that  though  the  present  dynasty  be  that 
of  a  lapsed  race,  which  at  their  first  introduction 
were  placed  on  higher  ground  than  that  on  which 
they  now  stand,  and  sank  by  their  own  act,  it 
was  yet  part  of  the  original  design,  from  the 
beginning  of  all  things,  that  they  should  occupy 
the  existing  platform ;  and  that  redemption  is 
thus  no  after- thought,  rendered  necessarj^  by  the 
fall,  but,  on  the  contrary,  part  of  a  general 
scheme,  for  which  provision  has  been  made  from 
the  beginning ;  so  that  the  divine  man,  through 
whom  the  work  of  restoration  has  been  effected, 
was  in  reality,  in  reference  to  the  purposes  of 


140  MORE  WORLDS  THAN  ONE. 

the  Eternal,  what  He  is  designated  in  the  re- 
markable  text,  l  The  Lamb  slain  from  the  foun 
dations  of  the  world?  Slain  from  the  founda 
tions  of  the  world !  Gould  the  assertors  of  the 
stony  science  ask  for  language  more  express  ? 
By  piecing  the  two  records  together — that  re 
vealed  in  Scripture,  and  that  revealed  in  the 
rocks — records  which,  however  widely  geolo 
gists  may  mistake  the  one,  or  commentators 
misunderstand  the  other,  have  emanated  from 
the  same  great  author,  we  learn  that  in  slow 
and  solemn  majesty  has  period  succeeded  period, 
each  in  succession  ushering  in  a  higher  and  yet 
higher  scene  of  existence — that  fish,  reptiles, 
mammiferous  quadrupeds,  have  reigned  in  turn, 
— that  responsible  man,  'made  in  the  image 
of  God,'  and  with  dominion  over  all  creatures, 
ultimately  entered  into  a  world  ripened  for  his 
reception ;  but  further,  that  this  passing  scene, 
in  which  he  forms  the  prominent  figure,  is  not 
the  final  one  in  the  long  series,  but  merely  the 
last  of  the  preliminary  scenes ;  and  that  that 
period  to  which  the  bygone  ages,  incalculable  in 
amount,  with  all  their  well-proportioned  grada 
tions  of  being,  form  the  imposing  vestibule,  shall 


RELIGIOUS   DIFFICULTIES.  141 

have  perfection  for  its  occupant,  and  eternity 
for  its  duration.  I  know  not  how  it  may  appear 
to  others ;  but  for  my  own  part,  I  cannot  avoid 
thinking  that  there  would  be  a  lack  of  propor 
tion  in  the  series  of  being,  were  the  period  of 
perfect  and  glorified  humanity  abruptly  con 
nected,  without  the  introduction  of  an  intermediate 
creation  of  responsible  imperfection,  with  that  of 
the  dying,  irresponsible  brute.  That  scene  of 
things  in  which  God  became  man,  and  suffered, 
seems,  as  it  no  doubt  is,  a  necessary  link  in  the 
chain." 

At  this  startling  result,  our  author  finds  him 
self  on  the  confines  of  a  mystery  which  man  has 
"vainly  aspired  to  comprehend."  "I  have," 
says  he,  "  no  new  reading  of  the  enigma  to  offer. 
I  know  not  why  it  is  that  moral  evil  exists  in 
the  universe  of  the  All- wise  and  the  All-power 
ful  ;  nor  through  what  occult  law  of  Deity  it  is 
that  '  perfection  should  come  through  suffer 
ing.'  "  In  the  darkness  of  this  mystery  the  best 
and  the  brightest  spirits  are  involved ;  and  our 
inability  to  fathom  its  depth  we  willingly  ac 
knowledge.  But  there  are  difficulties,  which 
though  we  cannot  solve  them  for  others,  we 


142  MORE   WORLDS  THAN  ONE. 

may  solve  for  ourselves.  An  inferior  intellect 
may  disencumber  itself  of  an  incubus,  which  a 
superior  one  may  be  doomed  forever  to  bear. 
And  as  the  physician,  when  he  cannot  achieve 
a  cure,  considers  himself  fortunate  when  he 
finds  an  anodyne,  so  the  Spectre  of  Moral  Evil 
may  haunt  the  philosopher  when  the  peasant 
has  succeeded  in  exorcising  it. 

To  exhibit  the  Divine  attributes,  and  to  dis 
play  the  Divine  glory  to  an  intellectual  and 
immortal  race,  must  have  been  the  purpose  for 
which  a  material  universe  was  created.  In  his 
physical  frame  Man  is  necessarily  subject  to 
physical  laws.  The  law  of  gravity  "cannot 
cease  as  he  goes  by;" — and  finite  in  his  nature, 
and  fallible  in  his  reason,  he  can  but  feebly  de 
fend  himself  against  the  ferocity  of  animal  life, 
the  power  of  the  elements,  or  the  poison  that 
may  mingle  in  his  cup.  His  high  reason  does 
not,  in  many  emergencies,  compensate  for  his 
inferior  instinct.  He  is  therefore  helplessly  ex 
posed  to  suffering  and  death.  The  instincts  of 
self-preservation  and  of  parental  affection  give 
a  magnitude  and  interest  to  whatever  affects  the 
safety  and  happiness  of  himself  and  his  offspring. 


RELIGIOUS   DIFFICULTIES.  143 

He  is  thus  placed  in  antagonism  to  his  fellow- 
sufferers,  and  in  the  collision  of  interests  and 
feelings,  laws  human  and  Divine  are  broken. 
Nor  is  this  result  less  conformable  to  what  we 
have  regarded  as  the  object  and  end  of  creation. 
In  order  to  glorify  God  by  a  knowledge  of  His 
attributes,  these  attributes  must  be  fully  dis 
played.  The  power,  and  wisdom,  and  goodness 
of  the  Creator,  are  exhibited  to  us  every  day  and 
every  hour ; — they  are  proclaimed  in  the  heav 
ens  ; — they  are  stamped  on  the  earth  ; — life, 
and  the  enjoyments  of  life,  display  them  even  to 
the  dumb,  the  deaf,  and  the  blind.  But  in  what 
region  are  we  to  descry  the  attributes  of  mercy, 
of  justice,  and  of  truth  ?  In  the  abodes  of 
happiness  and  peace,  the  idea  of  Mercy  can 
neither  have  an  object  nor  a  name.  Justice  can 
be  understood  only  among  the  unjust, — and 
Truth  only  among  the  untruthful.  The  moral 
attributes  of  the  most  High  can  be  comprehended 
and  emblazoned  only  among  the  cruel,  the  dis 
honest  and  the  false.  His  power,  wisdom,  and 
goodness,  can  be  exhibited  only  in  a  material 
world,  governed  by  the  laws  of  matter ;  and  man 
in  his  material  nature  must  be  subject  to  their 


144  MORE  WOKLDS  THAN  ONE. 

operation  and  control.  Though  thus  controlled 
and  thus  suffering,  we  feel  that  all  is  good  and 
wise,  and  under  this  feeble  gleam  of  reason  there 
is  light  enough  to  show  us — if  we  are  disposed 
to  have  it  shown — that  the  Spectre  of  Moral 
Evil  has  been  conjured  up  by  ourselves  : 

All  discord,  harmony  not  understood : 
All  partial  evil,  universal  good — POPE. 

If  we  reject,  then,  the  idea  that  the  inhabit 
ants  of  the  planets  do  not  require  a  Saviour, 
and  maintain  the  more  rational  opinion,  that 
they  stand  in  the  same  moral  relation  to  their 
Maker  as  the  inhabitants  of  the  Earth,  we  must 
seek  for  another  solution  of  the  difficulty  which 
has  embarrassed  both  the  infidel  and  the  Chris 
tian.  How  can  we  believe,  says  the  timid 
Christian,  that  there  can  be  inhabitants  in  the 
planets,  when  God  had  but  one  Son  whom  He 
could  send  to  save  them  ?  If  we  can  give  a 
satisfactory  answer  to  this  question,  it  may 
destroy  the  objections  of  the  infidel,  while  it 
relieves  the  Christian  from  his  anxieties. 

When,  at  the  commencement  of  our  era,  the 
great  sacrifice  was  made  at  Jerusalem,  it  wag 


RELIGIOUS  DIFFICULTIES.  145 

by  the  crucifixion  of  a  man,  or  an  angel,  or  a 
God.  If  our  faith  be  that  of  the  Arian  or  the 
Socinian,  the  sceptical  and  the  religious  diffi 
culty  is  at  once  removed : — a  man  or  an  angel 
may  be  again  provided  as  a  ransom  for  the 
inhabitants  of  the  planets.  But  if  we  believe, 
with  the  Christian  Church,  that  the  Son  of  God 
was  required  for  the  expiation  of  sin,  the  dif 
ficulty  presents  itself  in  its  most  formidable 
shape. 

When  our  Saviour  died,  the  influence  of  His 
death  extended  backwards,  in  the  past,  to  mill 
ions  who  never  heard  His  name,  and  forwards, 
in  the  future,  to  millions  who  will  never  hear  it. 
Though  it  radiated  but  from  the  Holy  City,  it 
reached  to  the  remotest  lands,  and  affected 
every  living  race  in  the  old  and  the  new  world. 
Distance  in  time  and  distance  in  place  did  not 
diminish  its  healing  virtue. 

"  Though  curious  to  compute, 
"  Archangels  failed  to  cast  the  mighty  sum." 

"  Ungrasped  by  minds  create,"  it  was  a  force 

which  did  not  vary  with  any  function  of  the 

distance.     All-powerful  over  the  thief  on  the 

cross,  in  contact  with  its  divine  source,  it  was  in 

13 


146  MORE  WORLDS  THAN   ONE. 

succeeding  ages  equally  powerful  over  the  Eed 
Indian  of  the  west,  and  the  wild  Arab  of  the 
east.  Their  heavenly  Father,  by  some  process  of 
mercy  which  we  understand  not,  communicated 
to  them  its  saving  power.  Emanating  from  the 
middle  planet  of  the  system,  why  may  it  not 
have  extended  to  them  all — to  the  planetary 
races  in  the  past,  when  "  the  day  of  their  re 
demption  had  drawn  nigh ;"  and  to  the  planet 
ary  races  in  the  future,  when  "  their  fulness  of 
time  shall  come"  ? 

"  When  stars  and  suns  are  dust  beneath  his  throne, 
A  thousand  worlds  so  bought  were  bought  too  dear  " 

But  to  bring  our  argument  more  within  the 
reach  of  an  ordinary  understanding,  let  us 
suppose  that  our  globe  at  the  beginning  of  the 
Christian  era  had  been  broken  in  two,  as  the 
comet  of  Biela  is  supposed  to  have  been  in  1846, 
and  that  its  two  halves,  the  old  world  and  the 
new,  travelled  together  like  a  double  star,  or 
diverged  into  widely -separated  orbits.  Would 
not  both  its  fragments  have  shared  in  the 
beneficence  of  the  cross, — the  old  world  as 
liberally  as  the  new, — the  penitent  on  the 


RELIGIOUS  DIFFICULTIES  147 

shores  of  the  Mississippi,  as  richly  as  the 
pilgrim  on  the  banks  of  the  Jordan.  If  the 
rays,  then,  "of  the  Sun  of  righteousness,  with 
healing  on  His  wings,"  could  have  shot  across 
the  void  between  our  European  and  American 
worlds  thus  physically  dissevered,  may  not  all 
the  planets,  the  worlds  made  by  our  Saviour 
himself,  formed  out  of  the  same  material 
element,  and  basking  under  the  same  benefi 
cent  sun,  be  equal  participators  in  His  heavenly 
gift? 

Should  this  view  of  the  subject  prove  unsat 
isfactory  to  the  anxious  inquirer,  we  may 
suggest  for  his  consideration  another  sentiment, 
even  though  we  ourselves  may  not  admit  it  into 
our  creed.  If  one  man  can  expiate  the  crime 
of  another  by  a  punishment  short  of  death,  he 
may  perform  the  same  generous  deed  for  a 
thousand.  Should  such  a  noble  martyr  consent 
even  to  give  his  life  for  his  friend,  by  suffering 
a  death  from  which  science  could  revive  him, 
he  might  expiate  the  crimes  of  thousands  of 
his  race.  May  not  the  Divine  nature,  which 
can  neither  suffer  nor  die,  and  which  in  our 
planet,  once  only,  clothed  itself  in  humanity, 


148  MORE  WORLDS  THAN  ONE. 

resume  elsewhere  a  physical  form,  and  expiate 
the  guilt  of  unnumbered  worlds  ? 

In  his  zeal  to  overthrow  the  objection  of  the 
infidel,  Dr.  Chalmers  has,  we  think,  subjected 
it  to  a  species  of  unnecessary  torture.  When 
the  infidel  thinks  it  unlikely  "that  God  would 
send  His  eternal  Son  to  die  for  the  puny  occu 
pants  of  so  insignificant  a  province  of  His 
creation,"  he  does  not  mean  that  God  cannot 
and  does  not  take  care  "  of  the  insignificant 
province"  of  the  earth,  because  He  has  so  many 
other  nobler  planetary  kingdoms  to  govern. 
He  means  only  that  the  mission  of  God's  own 
eternal  Son  was  too  great  a  gift  to  the  earth, 
and  therefore  one  not  likely  to  be  given.  The 
objection,  indeed,  which  Dr.  Chalmers  puts  into 
the  mouth  of  the  infidel  is,  in  truth,  an  objection 
felt  by  the  Christian ;  and  the  acute  author  of 
the  Essay  Of  a  Plurality  of  Worlds,  seeing  this 
mistake,  actually  treats  it  "not  as  an  objection 
urged  by  an  opponent  of  religion,  but  rather 
as  a  difficulty  felt  by  a  friend  of  religion."  He 
considers  it  as  a  difficulty  bearing  on  natural 
religion,  and  in  this  aspect  he  accepts  of  it  as  a 
difficulty,  discusses  its  importance,  and  regards 


RELIGIOUS   DIFFICULTIES.  149 

Dr.  Chalmer's  reply  to  it  as  "well  fitted  to 
remove  the  scruples  to  which  it  is  especially 
addressed."  The  difficulty  is  thus  put  by  the 
anonymous  author  we  have  referred  to : — 

"  Among  the  thoughts  which  it  was  stated 
naturally  arose  in  men's  minds  when  the  tele 
scope  revealed  to  them  an  innumerable  multi 
tude  of  worlds  besides  the  one  we  inhabit  was 
this; — that  the  Governor  of  the  Universe,  who 
has  so  many  worlds  under  His  management, 
cannot  be  conceived  as  bestowing  upon  this 
earth,  and  its  various  tribes  of  inhabitants, 
that  care  which,  till  then,  natural  religion  had 
taught  men  that  He  does  employ  to  secure  to 
man  the  possession  and  use  of  his  faculties  of 
mind  and  body,  and  to  all  animals  the  requi 
sites  of  animal  existence  and  animal  enjoyment. 
And  upon  this  Chalmers  remarks,  that  just 
about  the  time  when  science  gave  rise  to  the 
suggestion,  of  this  difficulty,  she  also  gave 
occasion  to  a  remarkable  reply  to  it.  Just 
about  the  same  time  that  the  invention  of  the 
telescope  showed  that  there  were  innumerable 
worlds  which  might  have  inhabitants  requiring 
the  Creator's  care  as  much  as  the  tribes  of  this 


150  MORE    WORLDS  THAN   ONE. 

earth  do,  the  invention  of  the  microscope 
showed  that  there  were  in  this  world  innumer 
able  tribes  of  animals  which  had  been  all  along 
enjoying  the  benefit  of  the  Creator's  care  as 
much  as  those  kinds  with  which  man  had  been 
familiar  from  the  beginning.  The  telescope 
suggested  that  there  might  be  dwellers  in 
Jupiter  or  in  Saturn,  of  great  size  and  unknown 
structure,  who  must  share  with  us  the  preserv 
ing  care  of  God.  The  microscope  showed  that 
there  had  been  close  to  us,  inhabiting  minute 
crevices  and  crannies,  peopling  the  leaves  of 
plants  and  the  bodies  of  other  animals,  animal 
cules  of  a  minuteness  hitherto  unguessed,  and 
of  a  structure  hitherto  unknown,  who  had  been 
always  sharers  with  us  in  God's  preserving  care. 
The  telescope  brought  into  view  worlds  as 
numerous  as  the  drops  of  water  which  make  up 
the  ocean ;  the  microscope  brought  into  view 
a  world  in  every  drop  of  water.  Infinity  in 
one  direction  was  balanced  by  infinity  in  the 
other.  The  doubts  which  man  might  feel  as 
to  what  God  would  do,  were  balanced  by  cer 
tainties  which  they  discovered  as  to  what  He 
had  always  been  doing.  His  care  and  good- 


RELIGIOUS  DIFFICULTIES.  151 

ness  could  not  be  supposed  to  be  exhausted  by 
the  hitherto  known  population  of  the  Earth, 
for  it  was  proved  they  had  hitherto  been  con 
fined  to  that  population.  The  discovery  of 
new  worlds  at  vast  distances  from  us  was 
accompanied  by  the  discovery  of  new  worlds 
close  to  us,  even  in  the  very  substances  with 
which  we  were  best  acquainted,  and  was  thus 
rendered  ineffective  to  disturb  the  belief  of  those 
who  had  regarded  the  world  as  having  God  for  its 
Governor." 

The  difficulties,  or  "  scruples,"  so  distinctly 
stated  in  the  preceding  extract,  whether  we 
view  them  as  an  objection  urged  by  an  oppo 
nent  of  religion,  as  Dr.  Chalmers  does,  or  as  a 
difficulty  felt  by  the  Christian,  have,  in  our 
opinion,  no  existence ;  and,  if  they  had,  we  con 
sider  the  discoveries  of  the  microscope  as  having 
no  tendency  whatever  to  remove  them.  It  is  a 
singular  doctrine  to  maintain,  that  "  the  truths 
of  natural  religion  "  were  ever  exposed  to  danger 
by  the  discoveries  of  the  telescope,  or  that  astro 
nomical  truth  ever  excited  the  "  doubts  or  diffi 
culties,"  stated  by  our  author,  either  in  the  minds 
of  Theists  or  Christians  of  the  most  ordinary 


162  MORE  WORLDS  THAN  ONE. 

capacity.  We  have  never  read  any  works  con 
taining  such  doubts,  nor  listened  to  any  conver 
sations  in  which  they  were  the  subject  of  dis 
cussion.  Amid  the  destructive  convulsions  of 
the  physical  world,  even  pious  minds  may  have 
for  an  instant  questioned  the  superintending 
providence  of  God.  In  the  midst  of  famine,  or 
pestilence,  or  war,  they  may  have  stood  horror- 
struck  at  the  scene.  In  the  triumphs  of  fraud, 
oppression,  and  injustice,  over  honesty,  and 
liberty,  and  law,  Faith  may  have  wavered,  and 
Hope  despaired ;  but  in  no  condition,  either  of 
the  physical  or  the  moral  world,  does  the  mind 
question  the  POWER  of  its  Maker.  The  omnip 
otence  of  the  Creator,  and  the  exertion  of  it  in 
every  corner  of  space, — His  care  over  the  falling 
sparrow,  and  His  guidance  of  the  gigantic  planet, 
are  the  earliest  of  our  acquired  truths,  and  the 
very  first  that  observation  and  experience  con 
firm.  When  Eeason  gives  wisdom  to  our  per 
ceptions,  omnipotence  is  the  grand  truth  which 
they  inculcate.  Whatever  the  eye  sees,  or  the 
ear  hears,  or  the  fingers  touch, — every  motion 
of  our  body,  every  function  it  performs,  every 
structure  in  its  fabric,  impresses  on  the  mind, 


RELIGIOUS   DIFFICULTIES.  153 

and  fixes  in  the  heart  the  conviction,  that  the 
Creator  is  all-powerful  as  well  as  all- wise.  Om 
nipotence,  in  short,  is  the  only  attribute  of  God 
which  is  universally  appreciated,  which  scepti 
cism  never  unsettles,  and  which  we  believe  as 
firmly  when  under  the  influence  of  our  corrupt 
passions,  as  when  we  are  looking  devoutly  to 
heaven.  All  the  other  attributes  of  God  are 
inferences.  His  omnipresence,  His  omniscience, 
His  justice,  mercy,  and  truth,  are  the  deductions 
of  reason,  and,  however  true  and  demonstrable, 
they  exercise  little  influence  over  the  mind ; 
but  the  attribute  of  omnipotence  predominates 
over  them  all,  and  no  mind  responsive  to  its 
power  will  ever  be  disturbed  by  the  ideas  which 
it  suggests  of  infinity  of  time,  infinity  of  space, 
and  infinity  of  life. 

Is  it  conceivable  that  a  Theist  or  a  Christian 
of  the  smallest  mental  capacity  could  suppose 
that  there  are  degrees  of  omnipotence,  and  imag 
ine  that  the  Almighty  might  be  prevented,  by 
the  many  worlds  under  His  management,  from 
taking  care  of  the  Earth  and  its  inhabitants  ? 
If  that  Being  who  has  made  the  living  world 
which  we  see,  can  make  millions  of  worlds,  the 


154  MORE   WORLDS   THAN   ONE. 

same  power  which  takes  such  care  of  its  in 
habitants  that  not  a  hair  of  their  head  can  fall 
to  the  ground  without  His  knowledge,  can 
equally  embrace  in  his  capacious  affections, 
and  clasp  in  "  the  everlasting  arms,"  all  the 
families  of  the  universe. 

But  even  if  we  admit  that  such  imperfect 
notions  of  omnipotence  have  been  entertained, 
we  deny  that  the  discoveries  of  the  microscope 
have  the  slightest  tendency  to  correct  them. 
Without  alleging,  as  we  might  well  do,  that 
minds  cherishing  such  notions  of  the  Deity  are 
incapable  of  appreciating  the  great  truths,  that 
there  are  "new  worlds  close  to  us;"  that  there 
is  "a  world  in  every  drop  of  water;"  and  that 
"  these  worlds  are  as  numerous  as  the  drops 
in  the  ocean,"  we  maintain  that  minds  of  the 
highest  cast  view  the  microscopic  wrorlds  as 
creations  of  an  entirely  different  order  from 
those  disclosed  by  the  telescope,  and  that  such 
minds  can  never  reason  from  animalcular  to 
intellectual  life.  We  admit,  that  the  very  same 
care  which  is  required  to  preserve  even  an  atom 
of  invisible  life,  is  necessary  to  maintain  the 
gigantic  forms  of  the  elephant  or  the  mammoth; 


RELIGIOUS   DIFFICULTIES.  155 

but  ordinary  minds,  and  those  who  think  that 
their  Maker  may  have  too  much  to  do,  cannot 
comprehend,  and  therefore  cannot  receive,  the 
doctrine  that  God  takes  care  of  mites  and  mos 
quitoes,  and  the  other  denizens  of  the  microcosm 
at  their  feet, — of  animalcules  which  they  swal 
low  in  myriads  at  every  act  of  deglutition, — 
which  they  suffocate  in  millions  by  every  breath 
they  draw, — and  which,  at  every  step,  they 
trample  relentlessly  under  their  feet. 

The  religious  difficulty  has  been  presented  in 
another  form  by  the  author  of  the  Essay  Of  a 
Plurality  of  Worlds,  but  in  a  form  so  unintelli 
gible  to  us,  that  we  feel  the  greatest  difficulty 
in  comprehending  it.  Considering  Man  as  an 
intellectual,  moral,  and  religious  creature,  and 
having  a  progressive  history  in  the  development 
of  these  different  conditions  or  privileges,  as  our 
author  calls  them,  he  sees  a  great  difficulty  in 
supposing  that  intellectual  and  responsible  crea 
tures  analogous  to  man,  can  have  a  place  in  any 
of  the  other  planets  of  our  system.  Viewing, 
he  says,  "  the  mode  of  existence  of  human  spe 
cies  upon  the  earth  as  being  a  progressive  exist 
ence,  even  in  the  intellectual  powers  and  their 


156  MORE  WORLDS   THAN   ONE. 

results,  necessarily  fastens  down  our  thoughts 
and  our  speculations  to  the  earth,  and  makes  us 
feel  how  visionary  and  gratuitous  it  is  to  assume 
any  similar  kind  of  existence  in  any  region 
occupied  by  other  beings  than  men;"  and  he 
elsewhere  asserts  "  that  if  we  will  people  other 
planets  with  creatures  intelligent  as  man  is  in 
telligent,  we  must  not  only  give  to  them  the 
intelligence,  but  the  intellectual  history  of  the 
human  species"  This  assertion  is  supported  by 
another  assertion,  "that  the  Earth  and  its  hu- 
man  inhabitants  are,  as  far  as  we  yet  know,  in 
an  especial  manner  the  subject  of  God's  care 
and  government ;"  and  from  these  and  other  as 
sertions,  in  reference  to  man  being  under  the 
moral  government  of  God,  and  to  the  Earth 
being  the  theatre  of  the  scheme  of  redemption, 
he  comes  to  the  incomprehensible  conclusion, 
that  maris  nature  and  place  is  unique,  and  in 
capable  of  repetition  in  the  scheme  of  the  uni 
verse  ! 

In  order  to  test  the  accuracy  of  these  asser 
tions,  and  to  discover  what  bearing  they  have 
upon  the  doctrine  of  a  plurality  of  worlds,  we 
must  ascertain  what  has  been,  and  what  now  is, 


RELIGIOUS   DIFFICULTIES.  157 

the  progressive  history  of  man,  as  an  intellec 
tual,  moral,  and  religious  creature  ;  and  in  what 
age,  and  in  what  regions  of  the  globe  it  has 
presented,  or  does  now  present,  that  unity  of 
character  and  position  which  is  incapable  of 
repetition  in  the  scheme  of  the  universe. 

The  history  of  the  human  species  is  the  his 
tory  of  a  variety  of  races  in  every  stage  of  civili 
zation  and  barbarism,  and  the  great  majority  of 
which  have  neither  an  intellectual,  nor  a  moral, 
nor  a  religious  progressive  history.  Progression 
has  not  been  the  character  of  the  history  of  man. 
Without  alluding  to  his  primeval  fall  from  his 
high  estate,  we  have  only  to  cast  our  eyes  over 
the  globe,  and  look  at  the  intellectual,  moral, 
and  religious  catastrophes  which  it  presents  to 
us, — at  ages  of  light  and  darkness,' — at  alterna 
tions  of  progress  and  decline, — at  the  highest 
civilization  sinking  into  the  lowest  barbarism. 
Mark  those  eastern  lands,  now  involved  in  dark 
ness,  from  which  the  beams  of  knowledge  first 
radiated  on  mankind.  Study  the  extinction  of 
morality  in  many  regions  of  the  earth  where  its 
great  lessons  were  first  taught  by  our  Saviour 
and  His  apostles ;  and  above  all,  mark  the  total 
14 


158  MOKE  WORLDS  THAN  ONE. 

suppression  of  the  Christian  faith  in  European 
communities,  where  it  has  been  displaced  by  a 
religion  whose  doctrines  were  preached  by  con 
quest,  and  whose  decalogue  was  dictated  by  the 
sword. 

May  we  not  ask,  then,  which  of  these  ever- 
changing  conditions  of  humanity  is  that  unique 
condition  which  cannot  be  repeated  in  the 
scheme  of  the  universe?  If  it  is  the  intellec 
tual,  moral,  and  religious  race  which  is  typified 
by  Newton,  and  Shakspeare,  and  Milton,  why 
may  it  not  be  the  lowest  in  the  scale  of  existence 
in  some  glorious  planet,  where  the  understand 
ing,  and  the  affections,  and  the  imagination  are 
to  rise  into  higher  forms  of  science,  of  poetry, 
and  of  philanthropy  ?  Why  may  not  the  red 
Indian,  the  black  negro,  and  the  white  slave,  be 
the  condition  of  intelligence  in  another  sphere, 
— to  be  elevated  to  a  nobler  type  of  reason,  and 
to  a  happier  and  a  holier  lot  ?  And  why  may 
there  not  be  an  intermediate  race  between  that 
of  man  and  the  angelic  beings  of  Scripture, 
where  human  reason  shall  pass  into  the  highest 
form  of  created  mind,  and  human  affections 
into  their  noblest  development  ? 


RELIGIOUS  DIFFICULTIES.  159 

It  is  strange,  and  hardly  credible,  that  the 
writer  whose  opinion  we  are  considering,  should 
think  it  necessary  that  the  planets,  if  inhabited, 
should  be  occupied  by  anything  like  man. 
Huygens,  and  Bentley,  and  Isaac  Taylor,  and 
Sir  H.  Davy,  and  Chalmers,  have  taken  a  dif 
ferent  and  a  sounder  view  of  the  subject.  The 
diversity  in  the  races  of  man, — the  immense  and 
beautiful  variety  of  forms  and  natures  in  the 
world  of  instinct,— and  the  countless  beauties 
and  differences  in  the  structures  and  properties 
of  vegetable  and  mineral  bodies,  whether  of  the 
ancient  or  the  present  earth,  all  concur  in  satis 
fying  us  that  there  will  be  the  same  diversity 
in  the  occupants  and  in  the  productions  of  the 
planetary  regions. — Why  may  not  the  intelli 
gence  of  the  spheres  be  ordained  for  the  study 
of  regions  and  objects,  unstudied  and  unknown 
on  earth  ?  Why  may  not  labor  have  a  better 
commission  than  to  earn  its  bread  by  the  sweat 
of  its  brow  ?  Why  may  it  not  pluck  its  loaf  from 
the  bread-fruit  tree,  or  gather  its  manna  from 
the  ground,  or  draw  its  wine  from  the  bleeding 
vessels  of  the  vine,  or  inhale  its  anodyne  breath 
from  the  paradise  gas  of  its  atmosphere  ? 


160  MORE   WORLDS   THAN   ONE. 

But  whatever  races  be  in  the  celestial  spheres, 
we  feel  sure  that  there  must  be  one,  among 
whom  there  are  no  man-eaters — no  parent  slay- 
ers — no  widow  burners — no  infant  killers — no 
heroes  with  red  hands — no  sovereigns  with 
bloody  hearts — and  no  statesmen  who,  by  leav 
ing  the  people  untaught,  educate  them  for  the 
scaffold  In  the  decalogue  of  that  community 
will  stand  pre-eminent,  in  letters  of  burnished 
gold,  the  highest  of  all  social  obligations,' — 

THOU   SHALT   NOT   KILL, 

— neither  for  territory,  for  fame,  for  lucre,  nor 
for  crime, — neither  for  food,  nor  for  raiment, 
nor  for  pleasure.  The  lovely  forms  of  life,  and 
sensation,  and  instinct,  so  delicately  fashioned 
by  the  master  hand,  shall  no  longer  be  destroy- 
ed  and  trodden  under  foot,  but  be  objects  of 
unceasing  love  and  admiration,' — the  study  of 
the  philosopher,  the  theme  of  the  poet,  and  the 
auxiliaries  and  companions  of  man. 

The  difficulties  we  have  been  considering,  in 
so  far  as  they  are  of  a  religious  character,  have 
been  very  unwisely  introduced  into  the  question 
of  a  plurality  of  worlds.  We  are  not  entitled 


RELIGIOUS   DIFFICULTIES.  161 

to  remonstrate  with  the  sceptic,  but  we  venture 
to  doubt  the  soundness  of  that  philosopher's 
judgment,  who  thinks  that  the  truths  of  natu 
ral  religion  are  affected  by  a  belief  in  planetary 
races,  and  the  reality  of  that  Christian's  faith 
who  considers  it  to  be  endangered  by  a  belief 
that  there  are  other  worlds  than  his  own. 


CHAPTEK  VIII. 

STABS  AND   BINAEY  SYSTEMS. 


IF  we  suppose  ourselves  placed  successively 
on  Mars,  Jupiter,  Saturn,  Uranus,  and  Nep 
tune,  the  Sun  will  successively  appear  smaller 
and  smaller,  and  at  Neptune  it  will  still  have 
a  round  and  distinctly  defined  disc.  At  greater 
distances  beyond  our  system  the  disc  of  the 
Sun  would  be  seen  only  through  a  telescope, 
and  all  the  planets,  except  Jupiter  and  Saturn, 
will  have  disappeared.  At  a  greater  distance 
still,  they  will  vanish  in  succession,  and  before 
we  cross  the  immense  void  which  lies  between 
our  system  and  the  nearest  system  of  the  stars, 
our  Sun  will  be  seen  as  a  single  star  twinkling 
in  the  sky.  All  his  planets,  primary  and  sec 
ondary,  and  all  his  comets,  will  have  disappear 
ed  in  the  distance. 

Hence  we  are  led  to  believe  that  the  fixed 


SINGLE  STAES  AND  BINARY  SYSTEMS.    163 

stars  are  the  suns  of  other  systems,  whose  plan 
ets  are  invisible  from  their  distance.  As  no 
change  of  place  has  been  observed  in  single 
fixed  stars,  excepting  that  which  is  common  to 
them  all,  and  arises  from  the  motion  of  our 
system,  we  are  entitled  to  consider  these  single 
stars  as  the  centres  of  systems  like  our  own ; 
to  suppose  them  without  planets,  and  to  be 
merely  globes  of  light  and  heat,  would  be  con 
trary  to  analogy  as  well  as  to  reason.  We 
know  that  there  is  one  star  in  the  universe  sur 
rounded  by  planets,  and  one  of  these  planets 
inhabited  ;  and  when  we  see  another  single  star 
equal,  if  not  greater  in  brilliancy,  we  are  enti 
tled  to  regard  it  as  the  centre  of  a  sj^stem,  and 
that  system  with  at  least  one  inhabited  planet, 
This  conclusion  is  rendered  more  probable  by 
estimates  which  have  been  made  of  the  com 
parative  brightness  and  probable  magnitude  of 
some  of  the  single  fixed  stars."* 

*  With  the  view  of  showing  that  analogy  does  not  lead  us  to  believe  that 
stars,  considered  as  suns,  are  not  surrounded  with  planets,  the  author  of 
the  Essay  Of  a  Plurality  of  Worlds,  has,  in  a  note,  quoted  in  the  follow 
ing  manner,  a  passage  from  Humboldt,  as  confirming  his  opinion  : 

"  Humboldt,"  says  he,  "regards  the  force  of  analogy  as  tending  in  the 
opposite  direction.  'After  all,'  he  asks  (Cosmos  III.  373,)  4  is  the  as 
sumption  of  satellites  to  the  fixed  stars  so  absolutely  necessary  ?  If  we 
were  to  begin  from  the  outer  planets,  Jupiter,  &c.,  analogy  might  seem 


164  MORE  WORLDS  THAN  ONE. 

These  estimates  have  been  obtained  from 
measures  of  the  brightness  and  distance  of  a 
small  number  of  stars.  The  distance  of  a  star  is 
obtained  from  what  is  called  its  Parallax,- — • 
namely,  its  change  of  place  in  the  heavens 
when  seen  from  the  two  most  distant  points  of 
the  earth's  orbit,  or,  what  is  the  same  thing, 
the  angle  subtended  at  the  star  by  lines  drawn 
from  it  to  the  two  most  distant  points  of  the 
earth's  orbit,  which  are  separated  by  a  length 
of  190  millions  of  miles.  The  following  are 
almost  the  only  correct  measures  of  parallax 
which  have  been  obtained  by  the  fine  instru 
ments,  and  the  accurate  observations  of  modern 
astronomers. 

to  require  that  all  planets  have  satellites.  But  yet  this  is  not  true,  for 
Mars,  Venus,  and  Mercury,  have  no  satellites,to  which  we  may  further  add 
the  twenty-three  planetoids.  In  this  case  there  is  a  much  greater  number 
of  bodies  which  have  not  satellites  than  which  have  them."— P.  102,  note. 
There  is  certainly  some  singular  confusion  of  ideas  either  in  Humboldt 
or  his  commentator,  or  in  both.  Nobody  ever  maintained  that  the  stars 
have  satellites.  They  are  supposed  only  to  have  planets,  and  if  any  person 
should  maintain  that  these  primary  planets  have  satellites,  the  observa 
tion  of  Humboldt  would  be  quite  applicable,  because  analogy  tells  us 
that  it  is  as  likely  that  they  have  no  satellites  as  that  they  have  them,  or 
rather,  as  in  the  Solar  system,that  some  may  have  satellites,and  others  not. 
The  author  of  the  Essay,  however,  means  by  satellites  not  moons,  but 
primary  planets,  and  he  has  certainly  made  an  extraordinary  blunder  when 
he  infers  that  there  may  be  no  planets  round  the  star  suns,  because  there 
are  planets  without  satellites.  If  there  had  not  been  in  the  Solar  system 
a  single  satellite,  analogy  could  never  have  led  us  to  conclude  that  there 
were  no  primary  planets  round  the  stars. 


SINGLE  STARS  AND  BINARY  SYSTEMS.    165 

a  Centauri,  .  .  O'^OIS  Henderson  and  Maclean. 

61  Cygni,  .  .  0"'374  Besel. 

a  Lyras,  .  .  0""207  Peters. 

Sirius,  .  .  0"'230  Henderson. 

Arcturus,  .  .  0"'127  Peters. 

Pole  Star,  .  .  0"-lU6  Peters. 

Capella,  .  .  0"-046  Peters. 

The  star  a  Centauri,  which  is  the  nearest  to 
our  system,  has  been  found  to  be  about  two- 
and-a-half  times  brighter  than  our  Sun,  and 
the  star  Sirius,  the  brightest  in  the  heavens, 
has  been  found  to  be  four  times  brighter  than 
a  Centauri ;  but  the  distance  of  Sirius  is  four 
times  greater  than  that  of  a  Centauri,  and 
therefore  the  intrinsic  brightness  of  Sirius  is 
sixty -three  times  greater  than  that  of  our  Sun. 
A  luminary  like  this,  so  resplendent  in  its 
brightness,  and  so  gigantic,  doubtless,  in  its 
magnitude,  was  surely  not  planted  in  space  to 
shed  its  light  and  its  heat  upon  nothing.  The 
star  Capella,  too,  a  star  of  the  first  magnitude, 
is  twenty  times  more  remote  than  a  Centauri, 
and  must,  like  Sirius,  be  a  sun  of  enormous 
size.  Can  we  doubt,  then,  that  every  single 
star,  shining  by  its  own  native  light,  is  the 
centre  of  a  planetary  system  like  our  own, 


166  MORE  WORLDS  THAN  ONE. 

the  lamp  that  lights,  the  stove  that  heats,  and 
the  power  that  guides  in  their  orbits  inhabited 
worlds  like  our  own  ? 

A  great  number  of  the  fixed  stars,  some  of 
which  are  of  the  first  magnitude,  like  Castor, 
have  been  found,  by  the  fine  telescopes  of 
modern  times,  to  be  double,  and,  from  observa 
tions  made  at  different  dates,  one  of  the  stars 
has  been  found  to  revolve  round  the  other, 
and  to  form  what  is  called  a  Binary  System ; 
— that  is,  a  system  in  which  one  sun  with  its 
system  of  planets  revolves  round  another  sun 
with  its  system  of  planets,  or  rather  round  the 
centre  of  gravity  of  both.  The  two  suns  of 
course  are  only  seen,  owing  to  the  great  dis 
tance  of  their  respective  systems  from  us ;  but 
no  person  can  believe  that  two  suns  could  be 
placed  in  the  heavens  for  no  other  purpose  than 
to  revolve  round  their  common  centre  of  gravity. 

The  orbits  of  no  fewer  than  thirteen  double 
stars,  or  binary  systems,  first  discovered  by  Sir 
"William  Herschel,  have  been  calculated  by  Sir 
John  Herschel,  Savary,  Madler,  Captain  Smyth, 
Hind,  Encke,  and  Jacob,  and  there  can  be  no 
doubt  that  the  Newtonian  law  of  gravity 


SINGLE  STARS  AND  BINARY  SYSTEMS.    167 

extends  to  those  bodies.  The  periods  of  these 
systems  extend  from  31|  years,  which  is  that 
of  £  Herculis,  to  737  years,  which  is  that  of 
a  Coronce  B,  both  of  which  were  calculated  by 
Madler  ;  but  the  most  interesting  is  y  Virginis, 
whose  revolution,  as  computed  by  Sir  John 
Herschel,  is  182  years.  This  system  is  a  very 
interesting  one.  The  two  stars  which  compose 
it  are  nearly  equal,  and,  according  to  Struve, 
slightly  variable,  the  two  being  sometimes  equal 
in  brightness,  and  sometimes  unequal.  Dr. 
Bradley  had  observed,  in  1718,  the  apparent  di 
rection  of  the  line  joining  the  two  stars.  In 
1780,  Sir  William  Herschel  observed  the  distance 
of  the  two  stars  to  be  5 "'7,  which  regularly  di 
minished  till  1836,  when  the  two  appeared  per 
fectly  round,  like  a  star  single  when  seen  by  the 
finest  telescopes.  After  1836  the  stars  separated, 
and  their  distance  is  now  more  than  2".  The 
change  in  their  angular  motion,  that  is,  in  the 
direction  of  the  line  joining  them,  has  been 
equally  remarkable,  and  was  as  follows : — 


In  1783, 
1830, 
1834, 
1835, 
1836, 


5° 

20° 
40° 
70* 


per  annum. 


168  MORE'WOELDS  THAN  ONE. 

The  star  of  the  shortest  period,  namely, 
£  Herculis,  has  performed  two  revolutions  since 
it  was  first  discovered,  and  the  small  star  has 
been  twice  completely  eclipsed  by  the  large  one. 
Other  three  double  stars  n  Coronce,  £  Cancri, 
and  £  Ursce  Majoris,  have  performed  more 
than  one  complete  revolution  in  their  orbits, 
and  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  these  motions 
are  the  result  of  centripetal  forces  varying 
inversely  as  the  square  of  the  distance.  "  We 
have  the  same  evidence,  indeed/'  says  Sir  John 
Herschel,  "  of  their  motions  about  each  other 
that  we  have  of  those  of  Uranus  and  Neptune 
about  the  Sun ;  and  the  correspondence  of  their 
calculated  and  observed  places  in  such  very 
elongated  ellipses  must  be  admitted  to  carry 
with  it  proof  of  the  prevalence  of  the  New 
tonian  law  of  gravity  in  their  systems,  of  the 
very  same  nature  and  agency  as  that  of  the 
calculated  and  observed  places  of  comets  round 
the  central  body  of  our  own." 

In  reference  to  systems  like  these,  the  argu 
ment  in  favor  of  their  being  surrounded  with 
inhabited  planets,  is  stronger  than  in  the  case 
of  single  systems.  "We  have  in  this  case  a 


SINGLE  STABS  AND  BINARY  SYSTEMS.       169 

decided  visible  movement  of  one  of  the  stars 
round  the  other :  We  have  also  elliptical  orbits 
described  by  the  same  law  of  force  which 
guides  our  own  Earth  and  the  other  planets 
in  the  Solar  system ;  and  though,  upon  the 
same  principles  which  led  us  to  agree  with  Sir 
William  Ilerschel  in  thinking  that  our  own 
Sun  may  be  inhabited,  we  may  believe  the  two 
suns  of  binary  systems  to  be  inhabited,  yet  it  is 
more  reasonable  and  consistent  with  analogy 
to  believe  that  each  of  them  is  accompanied,  as 
Sir  John  Herschel  remarks,  "  with  its  train  of 
planets  and  their  satellites,  closely  shrouded 
from  our  view  by  the  splendor  of  their  respect 
ive  suns,  and  crowded  into  a  space  bearing 
hardly  a  greater  proportion  to  the  enormous 
interval  which  separates  them  than  the  dis 
tances  of  the  satellites  of  our  planets  from  their 
primaries  bear  to  their  distances  from  the  Sun 
himself.  A  less  distinctly  characterized  sub 
ordination  would  be  incompatible  with  the 
stability  of  their  systems,  and  with  the  plan 
etary  nature  of  their  orbits.  Unless  closely 
nestled  under  the  protecting  wing  of  their 
immediate  superior,  the  sweep  of  their  other 


170  MORE  WORLDS  THAN   ONE. 

sun,  in  its  perihelion  passage  round  their  own? 
might  carry  them  off,  or  whirl  them  into 
orbits  utterly  incompatible  with  the  conditions 
necessary  for  the  existence  of  their  inhabit 
ants."* 

From  the  motion  of  our  own  system  round  a 
distant  centre,  it  is  highly  probable  that  our 
sun  is  one  of  a  binary  system,  although  its 
partner  has  not  been  discovered.  If  Madler's 
speculation  is  correct,  our  sun  and  the  star 
Alcyone  form  a  binary  system,  and  therefore 
since  our  sun  is  attended  with  planets,  and  one 
of  these  inhabited,  we  are  entitled  by  analogy 
to  conclude  that  all  other  binary  systems  have 
planets  at  least  round  one  of  their  suns,  and 
that  one  of  these  planets  is  the  seat  of  vegetable 
and  animal  life. 

The  number  of  double  stars  is  very  great, 
and  also  of  multiple  stars,  and  groups  and 
clusters ;  but  ages  must  elapse  before  astrono 
mers  can  determine  the  relation  in  which  the 
stars  that  compose  each  system  or  group  are 
related  to  one  another.  In  the  meantime  we 
are  compelled  to  draw  the  conclusion,  that 

*  Outlines  of  Astronomy,  §  846. 


SINGLE   STAKS  AND  BINARY  SYSTEMS.   171 

wherever  there  is  a  sun,  a  gigantic  sphere,  shin 
ing  by  its  own  light,  and  either  fixed  or  move- 
able  in  space,  there  must  be  a  planetary  system, 
and  wherever  there  is  a  planetary  system,  there 
must  be  life  and  intelligence. 

The  number  of  fixed  stars,  though  greater 
than  the  atoms  of  sand  on  the  sea  shore,  forms 
no  argument  to  the  instructed  mind  against 
their  being  occupied  by  living  beings.  "When 
the  philosopher,  with  his  microscope,  discovered 
that  the  polieschiefer  of  Bohemia,  and  chalk 
and  solid  marble,  consisted  almost  wholly  of 
the  remains  of  animal  life,  the  world  stood 
aghast  at  the  intelligence: — They  were  still 
more  astonished  at  the  statement  that  many 
thousands  of  millions  of  such  infusorial  animals 
could  be  counted  in  a  cubic  inch  of  their  life 
less  remains ;  but  their  faith  was  more  severely 
taxed  when  they  learned  that  whole  strata  and 
hills  were  formed  of  these  fossil  skeletons.*  In 
like  manner  we  are  at  first  startled  with  the 
deduction  that  the  planets  of  our  own  system 

*  Ehrenberg  found  that  one  cubic  inch  of  the  Bilin  polieschiefer  slate 
contains  41,000  millions  of  these  microscopic  infusorial  animals,  called 
Galionella  distans,  and  that  a  cubic  inch  of  the  same  material  contains 
above  one  billion  750,000  millions  of  distinct  individuals  of  Galionella 
fcrruginea. 


172  MOKE  WORLDS   THAN   ONE. 

are  the  seats  of  intellectual  life.  We  marvel 
still  more  at  the  announcement  that  the  systems 
of  the  stars  are  planetary,  and  inhabited  like 
our  own ;  and  our  faltering  reason  utterly  fails 
us  when  called  upon  to  believe  that  even  the 
nebulce  must  be  surrendered  to  life  and  reason. 
Wherever  there  is  matter  there  must  be  Life ; 
Life  Physical  to  enjoy  its  beauties — Life  Moral 
to  worship  its  Maker,  and  Life  Intellectual  to 
proclaim  His  wisdom  and  His  power. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

CLUSTERS  OF  STAKS  AND  NEBULA. 

AMONG  tlie  bodies  of  the  sidereal  universe, 
astronomers  have  from  the  earliest  ages  recog 
nized  the  existence  of  clusters  of  stars  and  of 
nebulae.  The  Milky  Way  indicates  by  its  name 
that  it  is  of  a  nebular  character ;  but  a  nebula, 
properly  so  called,  is  a  limited  space  of  light,  of 
various  forms  and  various  degrees  of  brightness 
in  its  different  parts.  Sir  William  Herschel 
was  the  first  astronomer  who  observed  this  class 
of  phenomena  systematically,  and  who  divided 
the  bodies  which  compose  it  into  six  classes,* 
namely, 

1.  Clusters  of  Stars,  in  which   each  star  is 
distinctly  seen. 

2.  Resolvable  Nebulce,    or   such   as    excite   a 

*  We  omit  the  other  three  classes  of  planetary  nebulae,  stellar  nebulae, 
and  nebular  stars,  as  unconnected  with  our  subject. 

15* 


174  MORE  WORLDS  THAN  ONE. 

suspicion  that  they  consist  of  stars,  and  which 
a  higher  magnifying  power  may  be  expected  to 
lesolve  into  separate  stars. 

3.  Nebulce,  properly  so  called,  in  which  there 
is  no  appearance  whatever  of  stars. 

It  is  very  obvious  that  the  language  used  in 
the  above  classification,  is  intended  to  support 
the  theory  that  there  is  such  a  thing  in  the 
sidereal  space  as  real  nebulous  matter,  or  star 
dust,  as  it  has  been  almost  jocularly  called,  con 
tradistinguished  from  a  nebulous  mass  of  iden 
tically  the  same  appearance  which  the  telescope 
has  resolved  into  separate  stars.  The  phrases 
which  we  have  put  in  italics  are  certainly 
incorrect,  because  any  appearance,  or  any  ex 
pectation  of  a  nebula  not  being  resolvable, 
is  proved  to  have  been  erroneous  the  moment 
it  is  resolved.  The  classification  of  nebulae, 
therefore,  should  have  been,  1.  Nebulae  that 
the  telescope  had  resolved;  and,  2.  Nebulae 
that  the  telescope  had  not  resolved. 

Sir  William  Herschel  believed  in  the  exist 
ence  of  purely  nebulous  matter,  or  star  dust, 
and  what  has  been  called  the  theory  of  side 
real  aggregation;  and  since  his  time  it  has 


CLUSTERS  OF  STARS   AND    NEBULuE.     175 

been  made  the  basis  of  wild  and  extravagant 
speculations  equally  incompatible  with  physical 
and  revealed  truth.  It  is,  therefore,  of  some 
importance  that  we  should  succeed  in  convinc 
ing  the  reader  that  the  existence  of  nebulae  not 
yet  resolved,  is  no  proof  of  the  existence  of  star 
dust,  and  that  we  are  entitled  to  conclude  that 
such  nebulae  are  clusters  of  stars, — that  each 
star  is  the  sun  of  a  planetary  system,  and  each 
planet  the  residence  of  life  and  reason.  Bach 
nebula,  in  short,  corresponds  with  our  hill  of 
microscopic  infusorial  animals, — each  system 
with  a  cubic  inch  of  its  materials,  and  each 
planet  with  a  cubic  line.  If  we  have  seen  with 
our  own  eyes  in  the  microscope  the  individual 
animal — only  the  ten  thousandth  part  of  an  inch 
in  size,  and  if  we  have  seen  the  hill  which  is 
an  accumulation  of  them,  need  we  wonder  at 
nebulae  being  stars, — at  stars  being  suns, — and 
planets  being  inhabited  ? 

As  it  is  now  an  astronomical  fact  that  nebulae, 
which  Sir  William  Herschel,  with  his  finest 
telescopes,  could  not  resolve,  and  which  had  710 
appearance  whatever  of  being  res-  liable,  have 
been  resolved  into  distinct  stars  jy  the  magni- 


176  MOKE  WORLDS  THAN  ONE. 

ficent  reflectors  of  Lord  Kosse,  we  are  enabled 
without  any  hypothetical  statements  to  place 
the  question  of  the  existence  of  star  dust  or 
purely  nebulous  matter,  in  its  proper  aspect ; — 
that  is,  we  can  assign  a  satisfactory  reason  to 
the  reader  for  considering  every  nebula  in  the 
heavens  as  a  cluster  of  stars  which  is  likely  to 
be  resolved  by  telescopes  superior  to  those  of 
Lord  Eosse. 

For  this  purpose,  let  us  suppose  seven  clusters 
of  stars  placed  at  seven  different  distances  in 
space,  and  all  of  which  were  regarded  as  nebulae 
before  the  invention  of  the  telescope.  When 
Galileo  applied  his  little  telescope  to  nebulae 
No.  1,  or  the  nearest  of  the  seven,  he  observed 
it  to  consist  of  separate  stars  so  distinct  that 
be  could  count  them,  and  he  concluded  from 
their  having  no  parallax,  and  being  at  an 
enormous  distance,  that  each  was  a  gigantic 
sun.  Galileo  tries  in  vain  to  resolve  No.  2, 
which  is  at  a  greater  distance,  and  therefore 
though  he  thought  that  a  better  telescope  would 
resolve  it  and  all  the  other  five,  they  still  re 
mained  as  nebulae  in  the  heavens.  Sir  Isaac 
Newton,  however,  nearly  a  century  later,  applies 


CLUSTERS   OF  STARS  AND  NEBULAE.     177 

his  little  reflecting  telescope  to  No.  2,  and  suc 
ceeded  in  resolving  it,  while  he  fails  in  re 
solving  five,  but  he  believes,  on  better  evidence 
than  Galileo,  that  the  other  five  nebulae  are 
clusters  of  stars.  Hadley,  with  his  fine  Grego 
rian  reflector,  easily  resolves  No.  3;  James 
Short,  in  like  manner,  resolves  No.  4 ;  Sir  Wil 
liam  Herschel,  No.  5 ;  and  Lord  Eosse,  No.  6. 
All  these  astronomers,  after  the  observation  of 
Galileo,  believed  that  all  the  seven  nebulae  were 
clusters  of  stars,  each  of  them  with  increasing 
evidence ;  and  Lord  Rosse,  that  No.  7  was  a 
cluster  on  stronger  evidence  than  the  rest.  Lord 
Rosse,  however,  fails  in  resolving  No.  7  with 
his  largest  instrument,  but  he  does  not  scruple 
to  express  his  conviction,  nay,  he  cannot  help 
being  convinced,  that,  with  a  telescope,  even  a 
little  larger  than  his  own,  but  certainly  with 
one  twice  its  size,  which  may  be  the  work  of 
another  century, — the  seventh  nebula  will  also 
be  resolved.  The  same  reasoning  which  we 
have  used  for  seven  nebulae  is  applicable  to 
seventy  or  seven  hundred,  or  even  seven  thou 
sand ;  and  the  conclusion  is  inevitable,  though 
the  evidence  of  demonstration  is  wanting,  that 
all  nebulae  are  clusters  of  stars. 


178  MORE   WORLDS   THAN   ONE. 

There  is  another  point  of  view  from  which 
we  may  regard  this  subject.  Purely  nebulous 
matter,  such  as  that  which  composes  comets' 
tails,  and  still  more  that  which,  in  the  form  of 
the  zodiacal  light,  is,  without  reason,  called  the 
sun's  atmosphere,  must  consist  of  the  minutest 
particles,  so  minute  that  they  do  not  retard 
Venus  or  Mercury  while  they  pass  through  the 
so-called  atmosphere  of  the  sun,  which  is  alleged 
to  extend  beyond  their  orbits.  Now,  if  No.  6 
was  considered  a  nebula  before  it  was  resolved, 
it  must  have  been  regarded  as  consisting  of 
minute  particles  of  star  dust,  whereas,  the  mo 
ment  it  was  resolved,  it  consisted  of  separate 
suns,  each  of  which  was  probably  greater  than 
our  own.  Is  it  possible  that  self-luminous  star 
dust,  at  such  an  infinite  distance  from  us  in 
space,  and  so  rare  as  to  be  like  a  non-resisting 
medium,  could  send  to  our  system  a  light  as 
intense  as  that  which  is  emitted  by  the  same 
nebula  considered  as  a  cluster  of  suns !  If  the 
resolved  nebula  No.  6,  and  the  unresolved  neb 
ula  No.  7,  have  the  same  appearance  and  the 
same  intensity  of  light,  is  it  not  certain  that  the 
latter  must  have  the  same  constitution  as  the 
former,  that  is,  must  consist  of  stars  ? 


CLUSTERS  OF  STARS  AND  NEBULAE.        179 

There  is  another  aspect  of  this  question, 
which,  as  it  has  not  yet  been  the  subject  of  dis 
cussion,  may  deserve  the  attention  of  astrono 
mers.  It  is  not  only  quite  possible,  but  we 
think  it  is  almost  certain,  that  in  the  distant 
sidereal  spaces  there  may  be  nebulae,  which, 
though  really  clusters  of  stars,  never  can  be  re 
solved.  Our  hypothetical  nebula,  for  example, 
No.  7,  may  not  only  resist  the  telescopes  of  ages 
to  come,  but  may  be  incapable  of  resolution  by 
telescopes  of  infinite  power  and  infinite  perfec 
tion.  Unless  when  a  star  is  in  the  zenith,  the 
rays  by  which  we  see  it  are  bent  and  dispersed 
by  the  refraction  of  the  atmosphere,  and  as  our 
atmosphere  is  not  a  homogeneous  medium,  a  star 
may  be  so  infinitely  minute  from  its  distance, 
that  though  its  light  makes  its  way  undisturbed 
in  its  journey  of  a  thousand  years,  it  may  be  so 
treated  in  its  passage  through  our  atmosphere 
that  an  image  of  it  cannot  be  formed  in  the 
focus  of  a  telescope,  considered  as  absolutely 
perfect.  An  increase  of  magnify  ing  power  would 
only  increase  the  effect  produced  by  the  atmos 
phere.  In  the  case  of  a  single  star  thus  acted 
upon,  it  would  be  invisible  from  the  diffusion 


180  MORE  WORLDS  THAN  ONE. 

of  its  light,  while  in  the  case  of  clusters  the 
cluster  would  continue  to  appear  a  nebula,  the 
diffused  light  of  each  star  being  mingled  with 
that  of  its  neighbors. 

The  interesting  discovery  made  by  Lord 
Eosse  of  what  is  called  spiral  nebulas,  where  the 
nebulous  matter  may  be  considered  as  having 
been  thrown  off  by  some  singular  cause  from 
the  centre  of  the  nebulae,  may  be  regarded  as 
hostile  to  the  opinion  that  such  nebula3  are 
composed  of  separate  stars.  An  appearance 
which  might  be  caused  by  motion,  is  certainly 
no  ground  for  believing  that  motion  caused  it. 
Various  forms  have  been  observed  in  nebula. 
They  are  globular  and  oval,  with  all  degrees  of 
ellipticity,  from  a  circle  to  a  straight  line  ;  and 
Sir  John  Herschel  remarks  it  .as  "a  fact,  con 
nected  in  some  very  intimate  manner  with  the 
dynamical  condition  of  their  subsistence,"  that 
they  are  more  difficult  of  resolution  than  globu 
lar  nebulas.  Now  these  linear  nebulas,  which 
Sir  John  Herschel  thinks  are  flat  ellipsoids  seen 
edgewise,  though  they  may,  by  speculators  in 
star  dust,  be  regarded  as  spheres  thrown  into 
their  ellipsoidal  state  by  a  very  rapid  rotation 


CLUSTERS  OF  STARS  AND  NEBULJE.        181 

round  their  lesser  axis,  yet  have  no  such  origin, 
because  they  have  been  resolved  into  stars.  In 
like  manner  the  nebulao  called  annular,  which 
have  the  form  of  rings,  might  be  regarded  by  the 
same  persons  as  produced  from  a  still  more  rapid 
rotation,  which  we  know  from  the  beautiful 
experiments  of  M.  Plateau,  will  convert  a  sphere 
into  a  ring  ;  but  that  this  is  not  their  origin  is 
proved  by  their  consisting  of  stars.  The  beauti 
ful  nebula,  for  example,  between  /9  and  /  Lyr(K9 
has  the  appearance  of  aa  flat  oval  solid  ring." 
"  The  axes  of  the  ellipse,"  according  to  Sir 
John  Herschell,  "  are  to  each  other  in  the  pro 
portion  of  about  4  to  5,  and  the  opening  occupies 
about  half,  or  rather  more  than  half  the  diameter. 
The  central  vacuity  is  not  quite  dark,  but  is 
filled  in  with  faint  nebulae  like  a  gauze  stretched 
over  a  hoop.  The  principal  telescopes  of  Lord 
Rosse  resolve  this  object  into  excessively  minute 
stars,  and  show  filaments  of  stars  adhering  to 
its  edges."  "When  this  nebula  was  unresolved, 
and  had  the  character  of  a  ring  nebula,  which 
might  be  produced  by  the  rapid  motion  of  a 
nebular  sphere  round  its  axis,  the  star  dust  phi 
losopher  would  ha  ye  considered  its  form  as  a 
16 


182  MORE   WORLDS  THAN   ONE. 

proof  that  it  could  not  consist  of  stars  ;  but  now 
that  it  has  been  resolved,  we  are  entitled  to  con 
clude  that  in  nebulae,  such  as  the  spiral  ones, 
where  there  is  the  appearance  of  motion,  the 
spirals  are  not  purely  nebulous  matter  thrown 
off  from  the  nucleus  like  water  twirled  from  a 
mop,  or  by  any  spiral  movement  whatever. 

As  the  appearance  of  motion,  therefore,  in 
particular  nebulae,  is  no  proof  that  they  consist 
of  purely  nebulous  matter  composed  of  invisible 
particles,  we  are  entitled  to  draw  the  conclusion 
that  this  large  class  of  celestial  bodies  are  clus 
ters  of  stars  at  an  immense  distance  from  our 
own  system, — that  each  of  the  stars  of  which 
they  are  composed  is  the  sun  or  centre  of  a 
system  of  planets,  and  that  these  planets  are 
inhabited,  or  if  we  follow  a  strict  analogy,  that 
at  least  one  planet  in  each  of  these  numberless 
systems,  is  like  our  earth,  the  seat  of  vegetable, 
animal,  and  intellectual  life. 

Before  we  quit  the  subject  of  nebulae,  and 
purely  nebulous  matter,  we-  must  notice  two 
points  connected  with  the  optical  appearance  of 
nebulas,  which  we  think  are  strong  arguments 
in  favor  of  their  being  resolvable  into  stars.  If 


CLUSTERS  OF  STARS  AND  NEBULA.     183 

a  nebula  consisted  of  phosphorescent  or  self-lu- 
niinous  atoms  of  nebulous  matter,  its  light  would 
be  immensely  inferior  in  brightness  to  that  of 
the  same  nebula  composed  of  suns  which  are  pro 
vided  with  a  luminous  atmosphere  for  the  very 
purpose  of  discharging  a  brilliant  light.  "When 
we  see,  therefore,  two  nebulas  of  the  very  same 
brightness,  and  find  by  the  telescope  that  one  of 
them  only  is  resolvable  into  stars,  we  can  scarcely 
doubt  that  the  other  is  similarly  composed.  We 
cannot  conceive  that  a  nebula  of  phosphorescent 
stars  could  be  visible  at  such  enormous  distances 
from  our  system.  When  a  planetary  nebula  is 
equally  bright  in  every  part  of  its  disc,  like  that 
which  is.a  little  to  the  south  of  ft  Ursce  Majoris, 
and  which  resembles  a  flat  disc,  "  presented  to 
us  in  a  plane  precisely  perpendicular  to  the  visual 
ray,"  it  is  impossible  to  regard  it  as  nebulous 
matter  in  a  state  of  aggregation.  In  like  man 
ner,  all  those  nebulae,  which  have  strange  and 
irregular  shapes,  indicate  the  absence  of  any 
force  of  aggregation,  and  authorize  us  to  regard 
them  as  clusters  of  stars. 


CHAPTER  X. 

GENERAL  SUMMARY. 

THE  arguments  for  a  plurality  of  worlds,  con 
tained  in  the  preceding  chapters,  are  so  various, 
and  have  such  different  degrees  of  force,  that 
different  views  of  the  subject  will  be  taken  by 
persons  who  thoroughly  believe  in  the  general 
doctrine.  We  can  easily  conceive  why  some 
persons  may  believe  that  all  the  planets  which 
have  satellites  are  inhabited,  while  tliey  deny 
the  inhabitability  of  those  that  have  none,  and 
also  of  the  Sun  and  the  satellites  themselves. 
There  are  individuals,  too,  though  we  doubt 
their  faith  in  sidereal  astronomy,  who  readily 
believe  that  the  whole  of  our  planetary  system 
is  the  seat  of  life,  while  they  are  startled  by  the 
statement  that  every  star  in  the  heavens,  and 
every  point  in  a  nebula  which  the  most  power 
ful  telescope  has  not  separated  from  its  neigh- 


GENERAL  SUMMARY.  185 

bor,  is  a  sun  surrounded  by  inhabited  planets 
like  our  own ;  and  that  immortal  beings  are 
swarming  through  universal  space  more  numer 
ous  than  drops  of  water  in  the  ocean,  or  the 
grains  of  sand  upon  its  shores.  But  if  these 
persons  really  believe  in  the  distances  and  mag 
nitudes  of  the  stars,  and  of  the  laws  which 
govern  the  binary  systems  of  double  stars,  they 
must  find  it  equally,  if  not  more  difficult  to 
comprehend,  why  innumerable  suns  and  worlds 
fill  the  immensity  of  the  universe,  revolving 
round  one  another,  and  discharging  their  light 
and  heat  into  space,  without  a  plant  to  spring 
under  their  influence,  without  an  animal  to  re 
joice  in  their  genial  beams,  and  without  the  eye 
of  reason  to  lift  itself  devoutly  to  its  Creator. 
In  peopling  such  worlds  with  life  and  intelli 
gence,  we  assign  the  cause  of  their  existence; 
and  when  the  mind  is  once  alive  to  this  great 
truth,  it  cannot  fail  to  realize  the  grand  combi 
nation  of  infinity  of  life  with  infinity  of  matter. 

In  support  of  these  views,  we  have  already 

alluded  to  the  almost  incredible  fact,  that  there 

are  in  our  own  globe  hills  and  strata  miles  in 

length,  composed  of  the  fossil  remains  of  micro- 

16* 


186  MORE  WORLDS  THAN  ONE. 

scopic  insects ;  and  we  need  scarcely  remind  the 
least  informed  of  our  readers,  that  theair  which 
they  breathe,  the  water  which  they  drink,  the 
food  which  they  eat,  the  earth  on  which  they 
tread,  the  ocean  which  encircles  them,  and  the 
atmosphere  above  their  heads,  are  swarming 
with  universal  life.  "Wherever  we  have  seen 
matter  we  have  seen  life.  Life  was  not  made 
for  matter,  but  matter  for  life ;  and  in  what 
ever  spot  we  see  its  atoms,  whether  at  our 
feet,  or  in  the  planets,  or  in  the  remotest  star, 
we  may  be  sure  that  life  is  there — life  to  enjoy 
the  light  and  heat  of  God's  bounty — to  study 
His  works,  to  recognize  His  glory,  and  to  bless 
His  name. 

Those  ungenial  minds  that  can  be  brought  to 
believe  that  the  Earth  is  the  only  inhabited 
body  in  the  universe,  will  have  no  difficulty  in 
conceiving  that  it  also  might  have  been  without 
inhabitants.  Nay,  if  such  minds  are  imbued 
with  geological  truth,  they  must  admit  that  for 
millions  of  years  the  Earth  was  without  inhab 
itants  ;  and  hence  we  are  led  to  the  extraor 
dinary  result,  that  for  millions  of  years  there 
was  not  an  intelligent  creature  in  the  vast  do- 


GENERAL    SUMMARY.  187 

minions  of  the  universal  King  ;  and  that  before 
the  formation  of  the  protozoic  strata,  there  was 
neither  a  planet  nor  an  animal  throughout  the 
infinity  of  space  !  During  this  long  period  of 
universal  death,  when  Nature  herself  was  asleep, 
the  Sun  with  his  magnificent  attendants,  the 
planets  with  their  faithful  satellites,  the  stars 
in  the  binary  systems,  the  Solar  system  itself, 
were  performing  their  daily,  their  annual,  and 
their  secular  movements,  unseen,  unheeded,  and 
fulfilling  no  purpose  that  human  reason  can 
conceive, — lamps  lighting  nothing, — fires  heat 
ing  nothing, — waters  quenching  nothing, — 
clouds  screening  nothing, — breezes  fanning  no 
thing, — and  everything  around,  mountain  and 
valley,  hill  and  dale,  earth  and  ocean,  all  mean 
ing  nothing. 

The  Stars 

Did  wander  darkling  in  the  eternal  space. 

To  our  apprehension,  such  a  condition  of  the 
Earth,  of  the  Solar  system,  and  of  the  sidereal 
universe,  would  be  the  same  as  that  of  our  own 
globe,  if  all  its  vessels  of  war  and  of  commerce 
were  traversing  its  seas,  with  empty  cabins  and 
freight]  ess  holds, — as  if  all  the  railways  on  its 


188  MORE  WORLDS  THAN  ONE. 

surface  were  in  full  activity  without  passengers 
and  goods, — and  all  our  machinery  beating  the 
air  and  gnashing  their  iron  teeth  without  work 
performed.  A  house  without  tenants,  a  city 
without  citizens,  present  to  our  minds  the  same 
idea  as  a  planet  without  life,  and  a  universe 
without  inhabitants.  "Why  the  house  was  built, 
why  the  city  was  founded,  why  the  planet  was 
made,  and  why  the  universe  was  created,  it 
would  be  difficult  even  to  conjecture.  Equally 
great  would  be  the  difficulty  were  the  planets 
shapeless  lumps  of  matter  poised  in  ether,  and 
still  and  motionless  as  the  grave ;  but  when  we 
consider  them  as  chiselled  spheres  teeming  with 
inorganic  beauty,  and  in  full  mechanical  activ 
ity,  performing  their  appointed  motions  with 
such  miraculous  precision,  that  their  days  and 
their  years  never  err  a  second  of  time  in  hun 
dreds  of  centuries,  the  difficulty  of  believing 
them  to  be  without  life  is,  if  possible,  immeas 
urably  increased.  To  conceive  any  one  mate 
rial  globe,  whether  a  gigantic  clod  slumbering 
in  space,  or  a  noble  planet  equipped  like  our 
own,  and  duly  performing  its  appointed  task,  to 
have  no  living  occupants,  or  not  in  a  state  of 


GENERAL   SUMMARY.  189 

preparation  to  receive  them,  seems  to  us  one  of 
those  notions  which  could  be  harbored  only  in 
an  ill-educated  and  ill-regulated  mind, — a  mind 
without  faith  and  without  hope: — But  to  con 
ceive  a  whole  universe  of  moving  and  revolving 
worlds  in  such  a  category,  indicates,  in  our  ap 
prehension,  a  mind  dead  to  feeling  and  shorn 
of  reason. 

But  we  have  been  mistaken  in  thinking  that 
the  "universe  was  dead :  it  was  but  unborn,  the 
perfect  chrysalis  from  which  the  living  butterfly 
was  to  spring.  Protozoic  forms  arose  at  the 
Divine  command, — the  infant  plant,  the  simple 
mollusc,  the  nobler  fish,  the  still  nobler  quad 
ruped,  successively  appeared,  and  Man,the  image 
of  his  Maker,  and  the  work  of  His  hand,  was 
invested  with  the  sovereignty  of  the  globe. 
The  Earth,  therefore,  was  made  for  man,  mat 
ter  for  life;  and  wherever  another  earth  is 
seen,  we  are  forced  to  the  conviction  that  it 
•was  made  like  ours  for  the  use  of  an  intellectual 
race.  % 

Although,  we  have  repeatedly  alluded,  in  the 
preceding  pages,  to  the  absurdity  of  supposing 
suns  and  planets  to  be  made  without  any  con- 


190  MOKE  WORLDS  THAN  ONE. 

ceivable  object,  yet  the  argument  may  be  pre 
sented  in  a  more  general  form.  In  all  the 
works  which  are  the  result  of  human  skill,  the 
great  object  is  to  produce  a  given  effect  by  the 
smallest  expenditure  of  labor  and  of  materials. 
The  genius  of  the  artist  is  less  strikingly  shown 
in  producing  a  new  effect,  than  in  producing 
one  well  known,  with  economy  of  time,  of  work, 
and  of  material.  Everything  that  is  not  neces 
sary  to  the  final  effect  of  a  process,  or  of  a  ma 
chine,  is  labor  in  vain, — a  species  of  work  in 
which  man  never  willingly  indulges.  Even 
where  labor  is  not  hallowed  by  the  sweat  of 
the  brow, — where  it  does  not  earn  bread,  or  is 
not  exhausted  in  the  great  structures  of  civiliz 
ation,  it  is  never  labor  in  vain.  Every  act  of 
the  mind,  and  every  motion  of  the  hand  which 
it  guides,  is  a  step  in  the  great  march  of  social 
progress,  however  frivolous  its  work  may  seem, 
and  however  useless  its  immediate  result.  The 
toy  for  the  child,  the  telescope  for  the  sage,  the 
locomotive  for  the  railway,  the  steam-ship  for  the 
ocean,  are  equally,  though  in  different  degrees, 
the  result  of  useful  occupation.  In  the  world 
of  instinct  there  is  the  same  economy  of  skill 


GENEKAL  SUMMARY.  191 

and  labor, — the  spider  and  the  bee,  the  ant 
and  the  beaver,  are  spendthrifts  neither  of  time 
nor  of  toil ;  and  in  all  the  works  of  the  Divine 
artist  around  us,- — in  all  the  laws  of  matter  and 
of  motion, — in  the  frame  of  man  and  of  ani 
mals,  of  plants  and  of  inorganic  nature,  the 
economy  of  power  is  universally  displayed.  No 
thing  is  made  in  vain — nothing  by  a  complex 
process  which  can  be  made  by  a  simple  one; 
and  it  has  often  been  remarked  by  the  most 
diligent  students  of  the  living  world,  that  the 
infinite  wisdom  of  the  Creator  is  more  strikingly 
displayed  in  the  economy  than  in  the  manifes 
tation  of  power. 

With  such  truths  before  us,  is  it  possible  to 
believe  that,  with  the  exception  of  our  little 
planet,  all  the  other  planets  of  the  system,  all 
the  hundreds  of  comets,  all  the  systems  of  the 
universe,  are  to  our  reason  made  in  vain?  It 
is  doubtless  possible  that  the  almighty  Archi 
tect  of  the  universe  may  have  had  other  objects 
in  view,  incomprehensible  by  us,  than  that  of 
supporting  animal  and  vegetable  life  in  these 
magnificent  spheres ;  but  as  the  question  we  are 
discussing  is  one  in^  which  we  can  appeal  only 


192  MOKE  WOKLDS  THAN  ONE. 

to  human  reason,  and  as  human  reason  in  its 
highest  form  cannot  discover  these  other  objects, 
we  the  inhabitants  of  one  of  the  least  of  these 
spheres,  which  has  for  immeasurable  periods  of 
time  been  preparing  for  the  residence  of  man, 
must  believe,  under  the  guidance  of  that 
reason,  that  they  were  destined  certainly,  like 
our  Earth,  for  an  intellectual  race,  and  destined 
probably  for  a  previous  and  lengthened  occu 
pation  by  plants  and  animals,  in  order  that  their 
inhabitants  may  study  on  the  tombstones  of  the 
past  those  miraculous  processes  of  growth  and 
decay,  of  destruction  and  renovation,  by  which 
there  has  been  provided  for  them  so  noble  an 
inheritance. 

In  the  celebrated  sermon  On  the  Origin  and 
Frame  of  the  World,  to  which  we  have  already 
referred,  Dr.  Bentley  has  taken  a  view  of  this 
part  of  the  question  which,  though  slightly 
different  from  ours,  leads  him  to  the  same 
conclusion.  Considering  "that  the  soul  of  one 
virtuous  and  religious  man  is  of  greater  worth 
and  excellency  than  the  Sun  and  his  planets, 
and  all  the  stars  in  the  world,"  Dr.  Bentley 
expresses  his  willingness  to  believe,  that  "  their 


GENERAL  SUMMARY.  193 

usefulness  to  man  might  be  the  sole  end  of 
their  creation,  if  it  could  be  proved  that  they 
were  as  beneficial  to"  us  as  the  Polar  Star  was 
formerly  for  navigation,  or  as  the  Moon  is  for 
producing  the  tides,  and  lighting  us  in  winter 
nights.  " But,"  he  adds,  "we  dare  not  under 
take  to  show  what  advantage  is  brought  to  us 
by  those  innumerable  stars  in  the  galaxy  and 
other  parts  of  the  firmament,  not  discernible 
by  naked  eyes,  and  yet  each  many  thousand 
times  bigger  than  the  whole  body  of  the  Earth. 
If  you  say,  they  beget  in  us  a  great  idea  and 
veneration  of  the  mighty  Author  and  Governor 
of  such  stupendous  bodies,  and  excite  and 
elevate  our  minds  to  His  adoration  and  praise ; 
you  say  very  truly  and  well.  But  would  it  not 
raise  in  us  a  higher  apprehension  of  the  infinite 
majesty  and  boundless  beneficence  of  God,  to 
suppose  that  these  remote  and  vast  bodies  were 
formed  not  merely  upon  our  account  to  be 
peeped  at  through  an  optic  glass,  but  for 
different  ends  and  nobler  purposes  ?  And  yet 
who  will  deny  but  there  are  great  multitudes 
of  lucid  stars  even  beyond  the  reach  of  the 
best  telescopes;  and  that  every  visible  star  may 
17 


194:  MORE  WORLDS  THAN  ONE. 

have  opaque  planets*  revolving  about  them 
which,  we  cannot  discover  ?  Now,  if  they  were 
not  created  for  our  sakes,  it  is  certain  and 
evident  that  they  were  not  made  for  their  own ; 
for  matter  has  no  life  nor  perception,  is  not 
conscious  of  its  own  existence,  nor  capable  of 
happiness,  nor  gives  the  sacrifice  of  praise  and 
worship  to  the  Author  of  its  being.  It  remains, 
therefore,  that  all  bodies  were  formed  for  the 
sake  of  intelligent  minds;  and  as  the  Earth 
was  principally  designed  for  the  being  and 
service  and  contemplation  of  men ;  why  may 
not  all  other  planets  be  created  for  the  like 
uses,  each  for  their  own  inhabitants  which  have 
life  and  understanding?"! 

Various    attempts    have    been    made,   but 
without  much  success,  to  give  a  popular  illus- 

*  This  is  the  earliest  allusion,  we  remember,  to  dark  bodies  in  the  side 
real  regionSj  unless  Dr.  Bentley  uses  the  word  opaque  in  contradistinction 
to  self-luminous  bodies.  The  planets  in  single  or  binary  systems  are  invisi 
ble  from  their  distance,  not  from  their  being  unable  to  reflect  light.  Mr. 
Pigot  had  long  ago  concluded,  from  various  celestial  phenomena,  that 
there  are  "  primary  invisible  bodies  or  unenlightened  stars  that  have  ever 
remained  in  eternal  darkness."  The  late  Professor  Bessel  having  found 
that  the  proper  motions  of  Sirius  and  Procyon  deviate  very  sensibly  from 
uniformity,  has  come  to  the  conclusion,  that  they  describe  orbits  in  space 
under  the  influence  of  central  forces  round  dark  or  non-luminous  central 
bodies,  not  very  remote  from  the  stars  themselves. 

t  Eighth  Sermon,  pp.  5,  6. 


GENERAL   SUMMARY.  195 

tration  of  the  argument  from  analogy,  by 
which  we  infer  the  existence  of  inhabitants  in 
the  planets,  from  their  similarity  to  the  Earth. 
M.  Fontenelle,  the  first  person  who  attempted 
this,  gave  the  following  illustration  : — 

•"  Suppose,"  says  he,  "  that  there  never  had 
been  any  communication  between  Paris  and  St.* 
Denis,  and  that  a  person  who  had  never  been 
out  of  the  city  was  upon  the  towers  of  Notre 
Dame,  and  saw  St.  Denis  at  a  distance  :  He  is 
asked  if  he  believes  that  St.  Denis  is  inhabited, 
like  Paris.  He  will  boldly  answer,  No.  For 
he  will  say,  I  see  distinctly  the  inhabitants  of 
Paris ;  but  those  of  St.  Denis  I  do  not  see ; 
and  I  never  heard  anybody  speak  of  them.  It 
is  true,  some  will  tell  him,  that  from  the  tow 
ers  of  Notre  Dame  he  cannot  see  the  inhabit 
ants  of  St.  Denis,  on  account  of  the  dis 
tance  ; — that  all  that  he  can  see  of  St.  Denis 
greatly  resembles  Paris ; — that  St.  Denis  has 
steeples,  houses,  and  walls,  and  that  it  may 
very  well  resemble  Paris  in  being  inhabited. 
All  this  will  produce  no  effect  upon  my  Pa 
risian  ;  he  will  persist  in  maintaining  that  St. 
Denis  is  not  inhabited,  as  he  sees  nobody. 


196  MORE   WORLDS  THAN  ONE. 

Our  St.  Denis  is  the  Moon,  and  each  of  us  is 
this  citizen  of  Paris,  who  was  never  out  of  it. 
You  are  too  severe,  said  the  Marchioness ;  we 
are  not  such  fools  as  your  citizen ;  for,  as  he 
sees  that  St.  Denis  is  just  like  Paris,  he  must 
have  lost  his  reason,  if  he  does  not  believe  that 
it  is  inhabited;  but  the  Moon  is  not  at  all 
made  like  the  Earth.  Take  care,  madam,  I  re 
plied  ;  for  if  the  Moon  in  every  respect  resem 
bles  the  Earth,  you  will  be  obliged  to  believe 
that  the  Moon  is  inhabited.*'* 

This  illustration  is  certainly  defective ;  for, 
as  Pontenelle  subsequently  remarks,  the  Moon 
does  not  so  much  resemble  the  Earth  as  St. 
Denis  does  Paris.  The  mistake  which  the 
author  commits  arises  from  his  not  comparing 
the  Earth  with  a  planet,  like  Jupiter,  with, 
satellites,  and  clouds,  and  trade  winds,  and  a 
diurnal  motion.  In  this  case,  the  citizen 
should  have  been  a  villager  looking  at  Paris 
from  the  steeple  of  St.  Denis,  and  his  answer 
should  have  been,  I  think  it  very  probable 
that  there  are  or  have  been  inhabitants  in 
Paris,  but  it  is  possible  that  they  may  have  all 

*  CEuvres  de  Fontenelle,  2de  Series,  vol.  ii.  p.  19,  edit.  1758. 


GENERAL  SUHMAKY.  197 

left  it,  or  have  not  yet  arrived.  It  is  just  pos 
sible,  too,  that  these  walls  may  never  have  been 
a  protection  to  inhabitants,  nor  these  churches 
thronged,  nor  these  houses  occupied ;  but  if 
this  were  the  case,  the  sovereign  who  founded 
the  city,  who  encircled  it  with  a  wall,  who 
erected  the  churches,  and  who  built  the  houses, 
must  have  been  a  fool  or  a  madman. 

A  very  different  illustration  is  given  by 
Huygens :  "If  any  person,"  says  he,  "  were 
shown,  in  the  body  of  a  dissected  dog,  the 
heart,  the  stomach,  the  lungs,  the  intestines, 
and  then  the  veins,  the  arteries,  and  the  nerves, 
then,  though  he  never  saw  the  open  body  of  an 
animal,  he  could  hardly  doubt  that  the  same 
structure  and  variety  of  parts  existed  in  the  ox, 
the  sow,  and  other  animals.  In  like  manner, 
if  we  knew  the  nature  of  one  of  the  satellites  of 
Jupiter  and  Saturn,  would  we  not  believe  that 
the  very  same  things  which  were  found  in  it 
would  be  found  in  all  the  other  satellites  ?  In 
like  manner,  if  we  saw  anything  in  one  comet, 
we  would  conclude  that  this  was  the  structure 
of  all.  There  is  therefore  much  weight  in 
conclusions  drawn  from  analogies,  and  in  in- 
17* 


198  MORE   WORLDS  THAN   ONE. 

ferences  from  things  that  are  seen  to  things 
that  are  not  seen."* 

The  author  of  the  Essay  against  a  Plurality 
of  "Worlds,  considers  the  illustration  of  Fon- 
tenelle  as  unfair ;  and  he  gives  the  following 
modification  of  it  as  representing  his  own  ar 
gument  more  fairly : — 

"  Let  it  be  supposed,"  he  says,  "  that  we  in 
habit  an  island,  from  which  innumerable  other 
islands  are  visible,  but  the  art  of  navigation 
being  quite  unknown,  we  are  ignorant  whether 
any  of  them  are  inhabited.  In  some  of  these 
islands  are  seen  masses  more  or  less  resembling 
churches,  and  some  of  our  neighbors  assert  that 
these  are  churches  ;  that  churches  must  be  sur 
rounded  by  houses,  and  that  houses  must  have 
inhabitants ;  others  hold  that  the  seeming 
churches  are  only  peculiar  forms  of  rocks :  in 
this  state  of  the  debate  everything  depends  upon 
the  degree  of  resemblance  to  churches  which  the 
forms  exhibit.  But  suppose  that  telescopes  are 
invented  and  employed  with  diligence  on  the 
questionable  shapes.  In  a  long  course  of  careful 
and  skilful  examination,  no  house  is  seen,  and 

*  Oosmotheoros,  &c.,  lib.  i.    Hugenii  Opera,  torn.  ii.  pp.  652,  653. 


GENERAL  SUMMARY.  199 

the  rocks  do  not  at  all  become  more  like  churches, 
rather  the  contrary.  So  far,  it  would  seem,  the 
probability  of  inhabitants  in  the  islands  is  less 
ened.  But  there  are  other  reasons  brought  into 
view.  Our  island  is  a  long  extinct  volcano,  with 
a  tranquil  and  fertile  soil,  but  the  other  islands 
are  apparently  somewhat  different.  Some  of 
them  are  active  volcanoes,  the  volcanic  opera 
tions  covering,  so  far  as  we  can  discern,  the 
whole  island ;  others  undergo  changes,  such  as 
weather  or  earthquakes  may  produce  ;  but  in 
none  of  them  can  we  discover  such  changes  as 
show  the  Jiand  of  man.  For  these  islands,  it 
would  seem,  the  probability  of  inhabitants  is 
further  lessened.*  And  so  long  as  we  have  no 
better  evidence  than  these  for  forming  a  judg 
ment,  it  would  surely  be  accounted  rash  to  assert 
that  the  islands  in  general  are  inhabited ;  and 
unreasonable  to  blame  those  who  deny  or  doubt 
it.  Nor  would  such  blame  be  j ustified  by  adduc 
ing  theological  or  d  priori  arguments ;  as  that 
the  analogy  of  islands  with  islands  makes  the 
assumption  allowable ;  or  that  it  is  inconsistent 

*  The  observation  of  volcanoes  and  church-like  rocks,  by  the  tele 
scope,  has  no  parallel  in  the  analogy  of  the  planets.  It  is  not  the  moon 
that  our  author  is  dealing  with,  but  innumerable  planets. 


200  MORE  WORLDS  THAN  ONE. 

with  the  plan  of  the  Creator  of  islands  to  leave 
them  uninhabited.  For  we  know  that  many 
islands  are  or  were  long  uninhabited.  And  if 
ours  were  an  island  occupied  by  a  numerous, 
well-governed,  moral,  and  religious  race,  of 
which  the  history  was  known,  and  of  which  the 
relation  to  the  Creator  was  connected  with  its 
history ;  the  assumption  of  a  history,  more  or 
less  similar  to  ours,  for  the  inhabitants  of  the 
other  islands,  whose  existence  was  utterly  un 
proved,  would,  probably,  be  generally  deemed 
a  fitter  field  for  the  romance  writer  than  for 
the  philosopher.  It  could  not,  at  best,  rise 
above  the  region  of  vague  conjecture."* 

This  illustration  is,  we  think,  so  unfair,  and 
so  constructed  to  answer  the  author's  purpose, 
that  we  concur  in  his  opinion  that  the  probabil 
ity  of  the  islands  being  inhabited  "  does  not  rise 
above  the  region  of  vague  conjecture."  No  illus 
tration  indeed  can  be  fair  or  effective,  unless  it 
relates  to  separate  and  independent  works  of  God, 
from  the  condition  of  one  of  which  we  draw  in 
ferences  by  analogy  relative  to  the  state  of  others 
of  which  we  know  nothing,  excepting  their  points 

*  Of  the  Plurality  of  Worlds,  An  Essay,  pp.  157-159. 


GENERAL  SUMMARY.  201 

of  similitude.  In  the  illustration  of  Huygens, 
for  example,  the  dog,  the  ox,  and  the  sow,  are 
independent  existences,  of  whose  internal  struc 
ture  we  know  nothing ;  but  having  found  cer 
tain  organs  upon  dissecting  the  dog,  we  infer 
the  existence  of  the  same  organs  in  the  ox,  from 
the  external  similitude  in  their  general  form, 
and  in  various  external  parts.  In  the  parallel 
between  islands  and  planets,  the  peopled  islands 
should  have  been  invested  with  certain  properties 
or  conditions  necessary  for  its  inhabitants,  which 
should  have  been  possessed  by  the  other  islands. 
The  inhabited  island  too,  should  have  been  made 
as  small  in  reference  to  the  rest  as  the  Earth  is 
to  Jupiter  and  Saturn.  But  independent  of 
these  defects  in  the  illustration,  the  mind  of 
the  reader  is  otherwise  prepared  to  admit  that 
they  may  have  no  inhabitants,  because  we  know 
of  hundreds  of  islands  without  inhabitants.  We 
can  assign  also  a  very  good  reason  why  they  were 
made,  and  why  they  are  not  inhabited,  and  if  we 
were  to  be  assured  of  the  fact,  it  would  excite  no 
surprise  whatever.  We  could  not  say  that  God 
therefore  made  them  in  vain,  because  when  the 
art  of  navigation  is  discovered,  they  may  be 


202  MORE  WORLDS  THAN  ONE. 

found  to  contain  gold  and  silver,  coal  and  iron, 
and  excellent  harbors,  such  as  exist  in  our  in 
habited  island.  We,  the  islanders,  may  suppose 
also,  that  the  islands  either  have  been  or  will 
be  inhabited,  and  we  are  entitled  to  make  this 
supposition,  because  we  must  have  been  origin 
ally  created  upon  it,  and  not  brought  there  by 
the  art  of  navigation ;  and  consequently  the 
same  creation  of  inhabitants  may  have  taken 
place,  or  may  yet  take  place,  in  the  uninhabit 
ed  ones.  It  is  obvious,  from  these  remarks,  that 
the  previous  knowledge  of  the  reader,  to  whom 
the  appeal  is  made,  influences  what  he  con 
ceives  would  be  the  speculation  of  the  island 
er  ;  and  the  confusion  of  ideas  which  thus  takes 
place,  renders  the  illustration  illusory. 

The  best  illustration  which  we  can  conceive, 
is  to  suppose  a  philosopher  contemplating  from 
a  distance  the  bodies  of  the  Solar  system,  and 
wholly  ignorant  of  their  condition.  He  examines 
them  so  as  to  acquire  all  the  knowledge  which 
we  possess  of  their  size — their  motions — the 
influences  they  receive  from  the  Sun,  and  all  the 
phenomena  disclosed  by  the  telescope.  He  knows 
nothing  about  their  being  inhabited  or  uninha- 


GENERAL   SUMMARY.  203 

bited,  but  being  permitted  to  visit  the  Earth,  he 
finds  it  inhabited,  and  observes  the  relation  which 
exists  between  vegetable,  animal,  and  intellect 
ual  life, — the  influences  which  emanate  from  the 
sun  and  moon,  and  the  days  and  nights,  and 
seasons  and  atmospheric  changes  which  charac 
terize  our  globe.  He  then  takes  his  place  in  the 
distance,  and  pondering  over  all  the  bodies  of 
the  system,  he  will  doubtless  conclude  that  they 
are  all  inhabited  like  the  Earth.  Had  he  first 
visited  Jupiter,  with  its  gorgeous  magnitude 
and  numerous  satellites,  and  found  it  inhabited, 
he  might  have  conceived  it  possible  that  as  the 
monarch  of  the  system,  it  might  alone  have 
enjoyed  the  dignity  of  being  the  seat  of  life ; 
but  even  in  this  case,  the  force  of  analogy 
would  have  compelled  him  to  view  the  Solar 
system  as  one  great  material  scheme  planned 
by  its  Creator,  as  the  residence  of  moral  and  in 
tellectual  life. 


CHAPTEE  XL 

REPLY  TO  OBJECTIONS  DRAWN  FROM  GEOLOGY. 

IN"  the  preceding  chapters  we  have  submitted 
to  the  reader  the  facts  and  arguments  by  which 
the  doctrine  of  a  plurality  of  worlds  may  be 
maintained,  and  we  have,  at  the  same  time, 
endeavored  to  answer  a  variety  of  objections 
of  a  moral  and  scientific  nature,  which  naturally 
presented  themselves  in  discussions  involv 
ing  so  many  considerations.  We  have  now, 
however,  a  more  arduous  duty  to  perform. 
The  author  of  the  Essay  to  which  we  have 
frequently  had  occasion  to  refer,  has  devoted  a 
whole  volume  to  an  elaborate  attack  upon  the 
doctrine  we  have  been  supporting.  With 
acquirements  of  the  highest  order,  and  talents 
of  no  common  kind,  which,  we  think,  might 
have  been  more  usefully  employed,  he  has 
marshalled  all  the  truths  and  theories  of 


OBJECTIONS  DRAWN  FROM  GEOLOGY.    205 

geology,  and  all  the  facts  of  astronomy,  against 
popular  and  deeply-cherished  opinions — opin 
ions  which  the  humblest  Christian  has  shared 
with  the  most  distinguished  philosophers  and 
divines,  and  which  no  interests,  moral  or  relig 
ious,  require  us  to  surrender.  In  questions  of 
doubtful  speculation  with  which  vulgar  error  is 
largely  mingled,  we  applaud  the  writer  who 
boldly  girds  himself  for  the  task  of  exposing 
presumption  and  ignorance,  however  generally 
they  may  prevail ;  but  in  the  case  with  which 
we  are  dealing,  where  the  opinions  assailed 
are  entrenched  in  right  feeling  and  embalmed 
in  the  warmth  of  the  affections,  and  where 
they  are  as  probable  as  the  theories  and  specu 
lations  by  which  they  are  to  be  superseded,  we 
can  ascribe  to  no  better  feeling  than  a  love  of 
notoriety  any  attempt  to  ridicule  or  unsettle 
them. 

The  first  and  the  most  plausible  of  the  argu 
ments  maintained  by  the  Essayist  is  drawn 
from  geological  facts  and  theories.  We  have 
already,  in  a  preceding  chapter,  explained  these 
facts,  and  admitted,  with  certain  limitations, 
(which,  to  give  our  opponent  every  advantage 
18 


206  MORE  WORLbS  THAN  ONE. 

we  at  present  abandon,)  that  during  a  long 
period  of  time  when  the  Earth  was  preparing 
for  the  residence  of  man,  it  was  the  seat  only  of 
vegetable  and  animal  life. 

Since  the  Earth,  then5  was  during  a  very 
long  time  (a  million/*  of  years  we  shall  say) 
uninhabited  by  intelligent  beings,  our  author 
draws  the  conclusion  that  all  the  other  planets 
may  be  occupied  at  present  with  a  life  no  higher 
than  that  of  the  brutes,  or  with  no  life  at  all / 
that  is,  that  there  is  not  a  plurality  of  worlds 
inhabited  by  rational  beings.  Now  this  is  not 
the  conclusion  which  the  premises  authorize. 
If  God  took  a  million  of  years  to  prepare  the 
Earth  for  man,  the  probability  is,  that  all  the 
planets  were  similarly  prepared  for  inhabitants, 
and  that  they  are  now  occupied  by  rational 
beings.  If  one  or  more  of  them  are  only  in  the 
act  of  being  prepared,  and  are  not  yet  the  scat 
of  intelligence,  analogy  forces  us  to  the  conclu 
sion,  that  they  will  be  inhabited  like  the  Earth. 
The  assertion  that  they  may  be  occupied  by  no 
life  at  all,  is  contrary  to  all  analogy,  unless  we 

*  We  use  this  number  to  avoid  circumlocution.  The  Essayist  uses 
the  word  myriads  of  years,  as  the  period  of  only  one  of  the  earliest 
formations ! 


OBJECTIONS   DRAWN   FROM  GEOLOGY.   207 

suppose  that  all  the  planets  are  only  in  that 
stage  of  preparation  which  preceded  the  pro- 
tozoic  age, — a  supposition  which  no  person  is 
entitled  to  make,  but  which,  if  it  were  true, 
would  prove  that  the  time  was  approaching 
when  all  the  planets  were  to  be  inhabited,  like 
the  Earth, 

It  is  admitted  by  every  geologist  that  the 
Earth  was  not  only  made  to  be  a  fit  residence 
for  the  human  family,  but  that  it  was  made  in 
such  a  manner  that  man  might  see  the  won 
derful  processes  by  which  it  was  prepared,  and 
read  its  vast  chronology  in  the  history  of  its 
fossil  remains.  Is  it  not  probable,  therefore, 
that  the  other  planets  were  formed  in  a  similar 
manner,  and  with  a  similar  object?  And  if 
analogy  leads  us  to  believe  that  all  the  planets 
have  been  or  are  in  the  azoic,  or  protozoic,  or 
palaeozoic  stage  of  formation,  the  conclusion  is 
inevitable,  that  they  are  occupied,  or  are  about 
to  be  occupied,  by  beings  formed  after  God's 
image ;  and  consequently,  that  there  is  a  plu 
rality  of  worlds.  We  may  put  the  argument 
in  a  simpler  form.  In  the  time  of  Pluygens 
and  Fontenelle  and  Bentley,  when  the  Mosaic 


208  MORE   WORLDS  THAN  ONE. 

account  of  the  creation  was  adopted  in  its  literal 
meaning,  the  argument  from  analogy  had  a 
certain  degree  of  force.  Has  that  degree  of 
force  been  diminished  by  the  subsequent  dis 
covery  that  a  million  of  years,  in  place  of  six 
days,  were  occupied  in  the  preparation  of  the 
Earth?  The  argument  from  analogy  is  not 
only  not  affected  by  this  discovery,  but  the 
discovery  itself  furnishes  us  with  the  new 
ground  of  analogy,  that  planets  are  made  for 
the  very  purpose  of  being  inhabited,' — that  they 
are  made  in  such  a  way  as  to  teach  their  in 
habitants  the  wonderful  processes  by  which 
the  Almighty  has  made  them, — and  that  they 
are  made  of  materials  essentially  necessary  for 
man's  personal  and  social  happiness.  Man  was 
not  made  for  the  planet — but  the  planet  was 
made  for  man. 

Quitting  the  ground  of  analogy,  our  author 
has  recourse  to  what  we  consider  the  most 
ingenious,  though  shallow,  piece  of  sophistry 
which  we  have  ever  encountered  in  modern 
dialectics.  He  founds  an  elaborate  argument 
on  the  mutual  relation  of  an  atom  of  time  and 
an  atom  of  space,  comparing  the  different 


OBJECTIONS  DRAWN  FROM  GEOLOGY.   209 

periods  of  time  occupied  in  the  formation  of 
the  Earth  with  the  different  distances  in  space. 
In  this  process  he  divides  the  great  geological 
period  into  four  periods  of  time,  and  the  infinity 
of  space  into  four  lengths  of  space ;  and  he 
"assumes  that  the  numbers  which  express  the 
antiquity  of  the  four  periods"  are  "on  the 
same  scale  as  the  numbers  which  express  the 
four  magnitudes,"  or  lengths  of  space.  We 
have  placed  these  periods  in  contrast  in  the 
following  table,  to  exhibit  clearly  the  nature 
of  the  argument : — 

TIME.  SPACE. 

1.  "The  Present  organic  condition    1.  "The  magnitude  of  the  Earth." 

of  the  Earth." 
a.  "The    Tertiary  period  of  geol-    2.  "The  magnitude  of  the  Solar 

ogists  which  preceded  that."  system    compared    with    the 

Earth." 

3.  "The  Secondary  period  which    3.  "The   distance   of  the   nearest 

was  anterior  to  that."  fixed  stars  compared  with  the 

Solar  system." 

4.  "  The  Primary  period  which  pre-    4.  "  The  distance  of  the  most  remote 

ceded  the  Secondary."  nebula  compared  with  the  near 

est  fixed  star." 

In  this  table  of  Time  and  Space,  the  time 
during  which  the  Earth  has  been  in  its  present 
condition,  which  is  nearly  6,000  years,  is  con 
trasted  with  the  magnitude  of  the  Earth,  which 
18* 


210  MORE  WORLDS  THAN  ONE. 

is  8,000  miles  nearly  in  diameter,  and  these 
numbers  are  units  in  the  scale,  the  one  being 
called  an  atom  of  time  compared  with  the  du 
ration  of  the  primary  geological  period,  and  the 
other  an  atom  of  space  compared  with  the  dis 
tance  of  the  remotest  nebulse.  Now  the  im 
portance,  or  the  significance  of  the  Earth,  in 
regard  to  space,  is  fairly  measured  by  its  diam 
eter  of  8,000  miles,  which  is  a  fixed  quantity ; 
but  its  significance  with  regard  to  time  is  not 
measured  by  6,000  years,  because  its  duration 
is  constantly  increasing,  and  every  year  adds  to 
its  significance ;  that  is,  the  atom  of  time  is  ap 
proximating  to  infinity,  while  the  atom  of  space 
is  invariable.  Admitting,  however,  our  author's 
premises,  let  us  consider  his  extraordinary  con 
clusions  : — 

"  We  find,"  says  he,  "  that  man  (the  human 
race,  from  its  present  origin  till  now)  has  occu 
pied  but  an  atom  of  time,  as  he  has  occupied  but 
an  atom  of  space"  And  again, — 

"  The  scale  of  man's  insignificance  is  of  the 
same  order  in  reference  to  time  as  to  space. 
.  .  .  .  If  the  Earth  as  the  habitation  of 
man  is  a  speck  in  the  midst  of  an  infinity  of 


OBJECTIONS  DRAWN  FROM  GEOLOGY.      211 

space,  the  Earth,  as  the  habitation  of  man  is  also 
a  speck  at  the  end  of  an  infinity  of  time.  If  we 
are  as  nothing  in  the  surrounding  universe,  we 
are  as  nothing  in  the  elapsed  eternity ;  or  rather 
in  the  elapsed  organic  antiquity  during  which 
the  Earth  has  existed,  and  been  the  abode  of 
life.  .  .  .  Or,  is  the  objection  this?  That 
if  we  suppose  the  Earth  only  to  be  occupied  . 
with  inhabitants,  all  the  other  objects  of  the 
universe  are  waste,  turned  to  no  purpose  ?  Is 
work  of  this  kind  un suited  to  the  character  of 
the  Creator?  But  here,  again,  we  have  the  like 
waste  in  the  occupation  of  the  Earth.  All  its 
previous  ages  have  been  wasted  upon  mere  brute 
life  ;  after,  so  far  as  we  can  see,  for  myriads  of 
years  upon  the  lowest,  the  least  conscious  forms 
of  life,  upon  shell-fish,  corals,  sponges.  Why, 
then,  should  not  the  seas  and  continents  of  other 
planets  be  occupied  at  present  with  a  life  no  higher 

than  this,  OR  WITH  NO  LIFE  AT  ALL. 

The  intelligent  part  of  creation  is  thrust  into  the 
compass  of  a  few  years  in  the  course  of  myriads 
of  ages  ;  why  then  not  into  the  compass  of  a 
feiv  miles  in  the  expanse  of  systems  ?  .  .  . 
If  then  the  Earth  be  the  sole  inhabited  spot  in 


212  MORE  WORLDS  THAN  ONE. 

the  work  of  creation,  the  oasis  in  the  desert  of 
our  system,  there  is  nothing  in  this  contrary  to 
the  analogy  of  creation." 

That  is,  The  Earth,  the  ATOM  OF  SPACE,  is 
the  only  one  of  the  planetary  and  sidereal  worlds 
that  is  inhabited,  because  it  was  so  long  without 
inhabitants,  and  has  been  occupied  only  an  ATOM 
c  OF  TIME  !  If  any  of  our  readers  see  the 
force  of  this  argument,  they  must  possess 
an  acuteness  of  perception  to  which  we  lay  no 
claim.  To  us  it  is  not  only  illogical ; — it  is  a 
mere  sound  in  the  ear,  without  any  sense  in  the 
brain.  What  relation  is  there  between  the 
SHORT  period  of  man's  occupation  of  tlie  Earth, 
and  the  SMALL  portion  which  he  occupies  in 
space  ?  If  there  is  such  a  relation,  that  we  can 
reason  from  the  truth  of  the  first  to  the  proba 
bility  of  the  second,  then  we  can  reason  as 
justly  from  the  truth  of  the  second  to  the  prob 
ability  of  the  first.  Now,  let  ua  suppose  it 
to  be  as  certain  that  the  Earth  is  the  only  in 
habited  planet,  as  it  is  certain  that  Man  has 
occupied  the  Earth  only  for  the  short  period  of 
6,000  years,  could  any  rational  being  allege  that 
because  man  occupied  only  an  atom  of  space. 


OBJECTIONS  DKAWN  FROM  GEOLOGY.      213 

he  therefore  must  live  only  an  atom  of  time 
upon  the  Earth  ? 

But  even  if  we  admit  the  result  with  regard 
to  Man,  the  argument  does  not  apply  to  other 
intellectual  beings  than  Man — to  an  inferior  or 
to  a  superior  race  that  never  occupied  the  Earth 
at  all.  If  man  is  thus  limited  by  a  syllogism 
to  the  occupation  of  one  planet,  one  atom  of 
space, — an  angelic  race,  who  never  lived  on  the 
Earth  at  all,  may  be  indulged  with  the  occupa 
tion  of  Jupiter.  But,  farther,  let  us  suppose 
that  we  learn  by  the  telescope  that  every  planet 
and  satellite  in  the  Solar  system  is  inhabited  by 
Man,  he  would  still  occupy  but  an  atom  of 
space,  and  our  author's  argument  would  go  to 
prove  that  none  of  the  fixed  stars  or  binary 
systems  are  inhabited.  In  like  manner,  if  we 
could  prove  that  the  binary  systems  were  in 
habited,  the  sum  of  them  all  would  be  but  an 
atom  of  space,  and  our  author  would  still  re 
joice  in  his  conclusion,  that  the  clusters  of 
stars  and  nebulas  were  uninhabited  vapor. 

If  the  reasoning  which  we  have  examined 
be  sound  in  its  nature,  it  would  fail  entirely 
by  a  change  in  the  premises.  If  it  is  possible. 


214  MOEE  WORLDS  THAN   ONE. 

that  the  time  of  the  Earth's  preparation  was 
comparatively  short,  or  that  intelligent  beings 
occupied  the  Earth  previous  to  man ;  and  if  it 
improbable  that  Man  will  continue  to  occupy 
the  Earth  during  a  period  equal,  or  approxi 
mating  to  the  period  of  the  Earth's  preparation, 
the  whole  of  our  author's  argument  has  neither 
force  nor  meaning. 

If  the  Almighty  has  occupied  a  million  of 
years  in  preparing  the  crust  of  the  Earth  as  a 
suitable  residence  for  man,  by  the  slow  opera 
tion  of  secondary  causes,  and  has  deposited  the 
remains  of  vegetable  and  animal  life  in  each 
series  of  its  formation,  in  order  to  enable  man 
to  read  the  history  of  his  omnipotence  and 
wisdom,  is  that  any  reason  why  the  Earth,  the 
residence  of  man,  should,  among  countless  and 
more  glorious  worlds  than  his  own,  be  the  only 
one  that  is  inhabited?  Eeason  and  common 
sense  dictate  a  very  different  opinion.  If  nearly 
infinity  of  time  has  been  employed  to  provide 
for  intellectual  and  immortal  life  so  glorious  an 
abode,  is  it  not  probable  that  nearly  infinity  of 
space  will  be  devoted  to  the  same  noble  pur 
pose? 


CHAPTEE  XII. 

OBJECTIONS  FEOM   THE  NATUKE  OF  NEBULJ3. 

IN  a  preceding  chapter  on  nebulso,  we  trust 
we  have  satisfied  the  candid  inquirer  that  all 
nebulae  are  clusters  of  stars,  and  that  there  is 
no  proof  whatever,  not  even  the  shadow  of 
proof,  that  in  the  sidereal  regions  there  is  what 
is  called  nebulous  matter,  either  existing  in  a 
stationary  condition,  or  aggregating  into  stars. 
The  author  of  the  Essay  Of  the  Plurality  of 
Worlds ,  whose  astronomical  objections  to  the 
doctrine  of  a  plurality  of  worlds  we  are  about 
to  consider,  very  dexterously  commences  his 
argument  with  an  attack  upon  that  part  of  the 
doctrine  which  relates  to  nebulas.  He  is  not 
content  with  the  statement  of  facts,  but  he  at 
tempts  to  throw  ridicule  upon  his  opponents  by 
the  application  of  words  which  are  calculated  to 
influence  the  minds  of  ignorant  or  inattentive 


216  MOEE  WORLDS  THAN  ONE. 

readers.  By  calling  nebulae  clouds,  and  pieces 
of  comets'  tails,  and  the  stars  into  which  they  are 
resolved,  shining  dots,  pieces  of  bright  curd, 
luminous  grains,  and  lumps  of  light,  he  fancies 
that  he  has  demolished  the  opinion  of  astrono 
mers  that  these  dots  are  suns ;  that  they  are  "  as 
far  from  each  other  as  the  dog-star"  is  from  us ; 
that  each  sun  has  its  system  of  planets,  and 
each  planet  its  animal  and  vegetable  life. 

"  An  astronomer,"  says  the  Essayist,  "  armed 
with  a  powerful  telescope,  resolves  a  nebula, 
discerns  that  a  luminous  cloud  is  composed  of 
shining  dots ; — but  what  are  these  dots  ?  Into 
what  does  he  resolve  the  nebula  ?  Into  stars,  it 
is  commonly  said.  Let  us  not  wrangle  about 
words.  By  all  means  let  those  dots  be  stars,  if 
we  know  about  what  we  are  speaking,- — if  a  star 
merely  means  a  luminous  dot  in  the  sky.  But 
that  these  stars  shall  resemble  in  their  nature 
stars  of  the  first  magnitude,  and  that  such  stars 
shall  resemble  our  sun,  are  surely  very  bold 
structures  of  assumption  to  build  on  such  a 
basis.  Some  nebulae  are  resolvable — arc  resolv 
able  into  distinct  points — certainly  a  very  cu 
rious,  probably  a  very  important  discovery.  We 


OBJECTIONS  FROM  THE  KATUKE  OF  NEBULJE.  217 

may  hereafter  learn,  that  all  nebulae  are  resolv 
able  into  distinct  points ;  that  would  be  a  still 
more  curious  discovery.  But  what  would  it 
amount  to  ?  What  would  be  the  simple  way  of 
expressing  it  without  hypothesis  and  without 
assumption  ?  Plainly  this, — that  the  substance 
of  all  nebula  is  not  continuous  but  discrete  ; — 
separable  and  separate  into  distinct  luminous 
elements ;  nebulse  are,  it  would  thus  seem,  as 
it  were,  of  a  curdled  or  granulated  texture; 
they  have  run  into  lumps  of  light,  or  have  been 
formed  originally  of  such  lumps.  Highly  curi 
ous  !  But  what  are  these  lumps  ?  How  large 
are  they  ?  At  what  distances  ?  Of  what  struc 
ture?  Of  what  use?  It  would  seem  that  he 
must  be  a  bold  man  who  undertakes  to  answer 
these  questions.  Certainly  he  must  appear  to 
ordinary  thinkers  to  be  very  bold,  who,  in  re 
ply,  says  gravely  and  confidently,  as  if  he  had 
authority  for  his  teaching,  These  lumps,  0  man, 
are  suns ;  they  are  distant  from  each  other  as 
far  as  the  dog-star  is  from  us ;  each  has  its 
system  of  planets,  which  revolve  around  it ;  and 
each  of  these  planets  is  the  seat  of  an  animal 
and  vegetable  creation.  Among  these  planets 
19 


218  MOKE   WOKLDS   THAN   ONE. 

some,  we  do  not  yet  know  how  many,  are  occu 
pied  by  rational  and  responsible  creatures  like 
man ;  and  the  only  matter  which  perplexes  us, 
holding  this  belief  on  astronomical  grounds, 
is,  that  we  do  not  quite  see  how  to  put  oui 
theology  into  its  due  place  and  form  in  our 
system."* 

This,  surely,  is  neither  the  language  nor  the 
tone  of  a  man  of  science  in  search  of  truth,  or 
holding  in  respect  the  great  revelations  of  as 
tronomy.  The  Essayist  triumphantly  asks  four 
questions,  and  tells  us  that  he  would  be  a  bold 
man  that  undertakes  to  answer  them.  We 
accept  the  challenge,  and  appeal  to  our  readers. 

Question  1.  How  large  are  the  lumps  of  light, 
or  the  shining  dots,  into  which  the  astronomer's 
powerful  telescope  has  resolved  the  nebulas  ? 
These  lumps  of  light  are  admitted  to  be  stars 
shining  by  their  own  light.  Now,  it  has  been 
shown  by  the  most  distinguished  astronomers, 
by  Herschel  and  by  Struve,  that  in  the  various 
order  of  distances  in  space,  the  distances  of  the 
nebulse  are  the  greatest.  According  to  the  re 
cent  researches  of  Mr.  Peters,  as  given  by  M. 

*  Essay,  pp.  120-122.. 


OBJECTIONS  FIIOM  THE  NATUKE  OF  NEBULA.  219 

Struve,*  tlie  following  are  the  distances  of  the 
stars  of  different  magnitudes,  as  ascertained  by 
a  process  approximately  correct  :  — 


Apparent 
Magnitudes. 

Parallaxes. 

Distances  in  radi 
of  Earth's  orbit, 

1, 

.     0"'209 

98600 

2,         . 

.     0"'116 

1778000 

3,         . 

.     0"-076 

2725000 

4,         . 

.     0'''054 

3850000 

5, 

0"'037 

5378000 

6, 

.     0"'027 

7616000 

8i,       . 

.     0"'008 

24490000 

11*.    . 

.     0;/'00092 

224500000 

As  the  nebulae  are  obviously  more  remote  than 
any  of  the  stars  in  the  above  table,  and  as  the 
nearest  of  these  stars  must,  from  their  distance, 
be  equal  to  our  sun,  we  are  entitled  to  conclude, 
that  the  stars  or  nebulae  must  be  of  a  much 
greater  size.  Sir  John  Herschel  observes,  that 
"  when  we  consider  that  the  united  lustre  of  a 
group  or  globular  cluster  of  stars,  affects  the  eye 
with  a  less  impression  of  light  than  a  star  of 
the  fourth  magnitude,  (for  the  largest  of  these 
clusters  is  scarcely  visible  to  the  naked  eye,)  the 
idea  we-  are  thus  compelled  to  form  of  their  dis 
tance  from  us  may  prepare  us  for  almost  any 

*  Etudes  d'  Astronomic  Stellahe. 


220  MOKE  WOKLDS  THAN  ONE. 

estimate  of  their  dimensions.  A  visible  dot, 
or  a  visible  lump,  must  therefore  be  a  body  of 
enormous  magnitude,  and  though  we  cannot 
give  its  size  in  miles  or  diameters  of  the  Earth, 
we  are  sure  that  every  astronomer  in  the  old  or 
the  new  world  will  allow  that  we  have  answered 
the  question  with  sufficient  accuracy  in  reference 
to  the  object  for  which  it  was  asked.  The  size 
of  the  DOT  or  lump  is  of  sufficient  magnitude  to 
be  a  sun. 

Quest.  2.  At  what  distances  are  the  dots  or 
lumps  from  one  another  ? 

In  order  to  answer  this  question,  the  Essayist 
knows  well  that  we  require  to  have  the  appa 
rent  distance  between  the  centres  of  the  dots, 
and  upon  the  supposition  that  the  two  dots  are 
at  the  same  distance  from  us,  we  can  easily  de 
termine  their  distances  from  the  parallax  which 
may  be  assumed  for  resolvable  nebulae.  There 
are  double  stars  in  the  binary  system,  whose 
apparent  distance  is  as  small  as  that  of  the  dots 
or  stars  in  the  nebulas,  and  yet  every  astronomer 
admits  that  between  them,  there  is  ample  room 
for  a  system  of  planets  round  each. 

Quest.  3.   What  is  the  structure  of  these  dots 


OBJECTIONS  FEOM  THE  NATUKE  OF  NEBULAE.  221 

or  stars  ?  The  author  certainly  does  not  expect 
to  learn  whether  these  are  made  of  granite  or 
greywacke.  Analogy  teaches  us  that  their  struc 
ture  will  be  similar  to  that  of  the  only  sun  with 
which  we  are  acquainted.  It  will  consist  of  a 
luminous  envelope  enclosing  a  dark  nucleus. 

Quest.  4.  What  is  the  use  of  the  dots  or  stars  ? 
Being  large  bodies,  and  self-luminous,  they  can 
be  of  no  conceivable  use  but  to  give  light  to 
planets,  or  to  the  solid  nuclei  of  which  they 
consist. 

Having  thus  given  answers  to  our  author's 
questions, — answers  which  we  are  confident 
would  be  given  by  every  astronomer,  may  we 
not  ask  in  return, — What  is  the  size,  and  dis 
tance,  and  structure,  and  use  of  the  dots  upon 
his  hypothesis,  that  they  are  patches  of  comets' 
tails  or  luminous  grains  ?  The  Essayist  is  silent. 
Should  he  be  the  very  hold  man  to  make  the 
attempt,  the  astronomical  world  would  repu 
diate  his  theory  and  his  answers. 

But  there  is  another  way  of  meeting  objec 
tions  of  such  an  unreasonable  character.  Oar 
author  is  a  firm  believer  in  the  geological  spec 
ulation,  that  the  Earth  required  "  myriads  of 
19* 


222  MORE  WORLDS  THAN  ONE. 

millions  "  of  years  for  its  formation,  and  assum 
ing  his  principle  of  contrasting  time  and  space, 
may  we  not  ask  Mm  in  return,  What  was  the 
structure  of  the  primitive  Earth  ?  What  were 
the  periods  of  time  required  for  the  deposition 
of  each  formation  ?  And  of  what  use  was  an 
arrangement  requiring  myriads  of  millions  of 
years  for  its  completion  ? 

Believing  that  "  nebulae  are  vast  masses  of 
incoherent,  or  gaseous  matter,  of  immense 
tenuity,  and  destitute  of  solid  moving  bodies," 
a  theory  which  he  derives  from  another  theory 
called  the  nebular  hypothesis,  without  adducing 
the  least  trace  of  evidence  in  its  support,  our 
author  boasts,  not  surely  in  the  spirit  of  the 
inductive  philosophy,  that  he  seems  to  have 
made  it  CERTAIN  that  the  celestial  objects  (the 
nebula)  are  not  inhabited.  To  this  we  reply, 
that  we  have  made  it  MOKE  PROBABLE  that  the 
CELESTIAL  objects  are  inhabited, — an  assertion 
less  presumptuous,  but  more  certain  than  his. 

We  have  described  in  a  preceding  chapter 
the  spiral  nebulce  discovered  by  Lord  Eosse, 
and  wo  have  endeavored  to  explain  the  ap 
pearance  of  motion,  which  may  be  considered 


OBJECTIONS  FEOM  THE  NATURE  OF  NEBULA.  223 

as  indicated  by  the  spirals  which  they  exhibit. 
With  his  accustomed  boldness,  and  extrava 
gance  of  speculation,  our  Essayist  has  made 
the  following  observations  on  these  spiral  forms: 
• — "  The  comet  of  Encke/'  he  affirms,  "  describes 
a  spiral  gradually  converging  to  the  Sun,"  and 
"in  80,000  years  this  comet  zvill  complete  its 
spiral,  and  be  absorbed  in  the  central  mass. 

But  this  spiral  converging  to  its  pole 

so  slowly  that  it  reaches  it  only  after  forming 
10,000  circuits  (or  spirals,")  while  "there  are 
at  most  three  or  four  circular  or  oval  sweeps 
in  each  spiral  (of  the  nebulae),  or  even  the  spiral 
reaches  the  centre  before  it  has  completed  a 
single  revolution  round  it."  From  data  like 
these,  the  following  theory  of  the  spiral  nebulae 
is  deduced: — "If  we  suppose  the  comet  (that 
of  Encke)  to  consist  of  a  luminous  mass,  or  a 
string  of  masses,  which  would  occupy  a  consid 
erable  arch  of  such  an  orbit,  the  orbit  would 
be  marked  by  a  track  of  light  as  an  oval  spiral, 
or  if  such  a  comet  were  to  separate  into  two 
portions,  as  we  have,  with  our  own  eyes,  recently 
seen  Bields  Comet  do,  or  into  a  greater  num 
ber;  then  these  portions  would  be  distributed 


224  MOKE  WORLDS  THAN  ONE. 

along  such,  a  spiral.  And  if  we  suppose  a  large 
mass  of  cometic  matter  thus  to  move  in  a  highly- 
resisting  medium,  and  to  consist  of  patches  of 
different  densities,  then  some  would  move  faster, 
and  some  more  slowly,  but  all  in  spirals,  such 
as  have  been  spoken  of,  and  the  general  aspect 
produced  would  be  that  of  the  Spiral  Nebulce, 
which  I  have  endeavored  to  describe."  A 
hypothesis  more  wild  and  gratuitous  than  this 
was  never  before  submitted  to  the  scientific 
world.  In  what  part  of  the  nebula  do  the 
cometic  patches  reside  before  they  begin  their 
motion  of  descent  to  the  nucleus ;  and  what  is 
the  cause  of  their  quitting  their  place  of  rest  ? 
No  comet  out  of  the  many  hundreds  that  have 
been  observed,  has  been  so  negligent  of  its  tail 
as  to  leave  it  behind.  Encke's  Comet  has  been 
equally  careful  of  its  appendage,  and  the  divis 
ion  of  Biela's  Comet  was  only  apparent.  But 
even  if  a  comet  were  to  separate  into  a  number 
of  portions,  these  portions  would,  like  the  divis 
ion  of  Biela's  Comet,  travel  along  with  it  and 
again  unite  themselves  into  one,  so  that  the 
analogy  of  this  comet  is  destructive  of  the  spec 
ulation  which  it  is  brought  to  support. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

OBJECTIONS  FEOM  THE  NATURE  OF  THE  FIXED 
STARS  AND  BINARY  SYSTEMS. 

HAVING,  as  our  author  congratulates  him 
self,  "cleared  away  the  supposed  inhabitants 
from  the  outskirts  of  creation,  so  far  as  the 
nebulae  are  the  outskirts  of  creation,"  he  pro 
ceeds  to  consider  the  fixed  stars,  and  examine 
any  evidence  which  he  may  be  able  to  discover 
as  to  the  probability  of  their  containing  in 
themselves,  or  in  their  accompanying  bodies,  as 
planets,  inhabitants  of  any  kind.  We  have 
already  stated  the  grounds  upon  which  the 
most  distinguished  astronomers  have  believed 
that  single  and  double  stars  are  accompanied 
with  planets  similar  to  our  own ;  and  we  shall 
now  consider  the  objections  which  are  made  to 
this  opinion. 


226  MORE  WORLDS  THAN  ONE. 

Beginning  with  clusters  of  stars,  the  author 
vvhose  opinions  we  have  been  controverting, 
justly  observes,  that  they  are  in  the  same 
category  with  resolvable  nebulae,  and  he  there 
fore  regards  it  as  "  a  very  bold  assumption  to 
assume,  without  any  farther  proof,  that  these 
bright  points  are  suns,  distant  from  each  other 
as  far  as  we  are  from  the  nearest  stars.  "When 
these  clusters  are  globular,  Sir  John  Herschel 
regards  their  form  as  "indicating  the  existence 
of  some. general  bond  of  union  in  the  nature  of 
an  attractive  force ,  and  assuming  that  the 
"  globular  space  may  be  filled  with  equal  stars, 
uniformly  dispersed  through  it,  and  very  numer 
ous,  each  of  them  attracting  every  other  with 
a  force  inversely  as  the  square  of  the  distance, 
.  .  .  each  star  would  describe  a  perfect  ellipse 
about  the  common  centre  of  gravity  as  its 
centre,"  Sir  John  therefore  conceives  that  "such 
a  system  might  subsist,  and  realize  in  a  great 
measure  that  abstract  and  ideal  harmony  which 
Newton  has  shown  to  characterize  a  law  of 
force  directly  as  the  distance." 

Eeferring  to"  this  ingenious  theory  of  globular 
clusters,  the  Essayist  illustrates  it  by  asserting, 


FIXED  STARS  AND  BINARY  SYSTEMS.     227 

that  if  "  our  Sun  were  broken  into  fragments, 
so  as  to  fill  the  sphere  girdled  by  the  Earth's 
orbit,  all  the  fragments  would  revolve  round 
the  centre  in  a  year,"  and  as  there  is  no 
symptom  in  any  cluster  of  its  parts  moving  so 
fast,  he  concludes  that  clusters,  like  nebulae, 
must  be  extremely  rare,  that  is,  vaporous,  like 
the  tails  of  comets.  In  support  of  this  view  of 
the  subject,  he  alleges  that  the  boldness  of  the 
opposite  opinion,  that  they  are  suns,  appears 
to  be  felt  by  our  wisest  astronomer,  meaning 
Sir  John  Herschel,  to  whom  he  refers  in  such 
a  manner  as  if  Sir  John  maintained  the  same 
opinion  with  himself.  This,  however,  is  far 
from  being  the  case,  as  his  own  words  will 
prove  :  "  Perhaps"  s&ys  he,  "  it  may  be  thought 
to  savor  of  the  gigantesque  to  look  upon  the 
individuals  of  such  a  group  as  suns  like  our 
own,  and  their  mutual  distances  as  equal  to 
those  which  separate  our  sun  from  the  nearest 
fixed  star:  yet,  when  we  consider  that  their 
united  lustre  affects  the  eye  with  a  less  im 
pression  of  light  than  a  star  of  the  fourth 
magnitude,  the  idea  we  are  thus  compelled 
to  form  of  their  distance  from  us  may  pre- 


228  MORE   WORLDS   THAN   ONE. 

pare  us  for  almost  any  estimate  of  their  dimen 
sions."* 

The  same  just  views  of  the  sidereal  system, 
in  which  no  motion  is  visible,  are  taken  by  Dr. 
Whewell,  in  his  Bridgewater  Treatise.f  "  As 
tronomy,"  says  he,  "  teaches  us  that  the  stars 
which  we  see  have  no  immediate  relation  to  our 
system.  The  obvious  supposition  is,  that  they 
are  of  the  nature  and  order  of  our  sun :  the 
minuteness  of  their  apparent  magnitude  agrees, 
on  this  supposition,  with  the  enormous  and  almost 
inconceivable  distance  which,  from  all  the  meas 
urements  of  astronomers,  we  are  led  to  attrib 
ute  to  them.  If,  then,  these  are  suns,  they  may, 
like  our  sun,  have  planets  revolving  round  them, 
and  these  may,  like  our  planet,  be  the  seats  of 
vegetable,  animal,  and  rational  life: — we  may 
thus  have  in  the  universe  worlds,  no  one  knows 
how  many,  no  one  can  guess  how  varied ; 
but,  however  many,  however  varied,  they  are 
still  but  so  many  provinces  in  the  same  em 
pire,  subject  to  common  rules,  governed  by  a 
common  power." 

*  Outlines,  &c.,  §  8G6,  referred  to  by  the  Essayist, 
f  Book  III.  chap,  ii.p.270. 


FIXED  STARS  AND  BINARY  SYSTEMS.       229 

From  the  globular  clusters  of  stars  our 
author  proceeds  to  the  binary  systems,  of  which 
we  have  treated  in  a  preceding  chapter.  He 
admits  that  the  law  of  universal  gravitation  is 
established  for  several  of  these  systems,  "with 
as  complete  evidence  as  that  which  carries  its 
operation  to  the  orbits  of  Uranus  and  Neptune/7 
but  he  endeavors  to  show  that  each  of  the 
stars  of  the  best  known  binary  systems,  a  Cen- 
tauri  and  61  Cygni,  "may  have  its  luminous 
matter  diffused  through  a  globe  as  large  as  the 
Earths  annual  orbit"  and  that,  in  this  case, 
"  it  would  not  be  more  dense  than  the  tail  of  a 
comet."  It  is  in  vain  to  argue  against  asser 
tions  like  these,  which  can  only  be  met  by  an 
equally  positive  denial  of  them.  In  the  present 
case,  however,  we  can  do  more.  Sir  John 
Herschel  has  shown  that  the  sum  of  the  two 
masses  of  the  double  star  61  Cygni,  is  to  that 
of  the  Sun  as  0*353  to  1,  or  nearly  as  1  to  3*1, 
and  hence  he  concludes,  that  "  the  Sun  is  neither 
vastly  greater  nor  vastly  less  than  the  stars 
composing  61  Oygni?  The  conclusion,  there 
fore,  of  the  Essayist,  that  the  matter  of  these 
systems,  "  of  these  brilliant  constituents,"  as 
20 


230  MORE   WORLDS   THAN   ONE. 

Sir  John  Herscliel  calls  them,  would  fill  the 
Earth's  orbit,  and  have  the  rarity  of  comets' 
tails,  is  contrary  to  astronomical  truth. 

We  have  already  seen  that  Sir  John  Herschel 
considers  these  double  stars  as  suns,  "  accom 
panied  with  their  trains  of  planets  and  satel 
lites,"  and  has  stated  the  conditions  necessary 
for  the  existence  of  their  inhabitants.  To  our 
Essayist  such  a  scheme  appears  so  complex, 
that  it  would  be  "  impossible  to  arrange  it  in  a 
stable  manner,"  so  as  to  protect  the  inhabitants 
from  such  dangers,  and  he  considers  himself  as 
having  overturned  Sir  John  Herschel's  view,  by 
simply  asserting,  without  a  ground  even  for  the 
assertion,  that  u  their  sun  may  be  a  vast  sphere 
of  luminous  matter,  and  the  planets,  plunged 
into  this  atmosphere,  may,  instead  of  describ 
ing  regular  orbits,  plough  their  way  in  spiral 
paths  through  the  nebulous  abyss  to  its  central 
nucleus"  ! 

Having  obtained,  as  our  author  sarcastically 
remarks,  "  but  little  promise  of  inhabitants  from 
clustered  stars  and  double  stars,"  he  turns  his 
attention  to  the  single  stars  as  the  most  hopeful 
cases,  and  asks,  "  what  is  the  probability  that 


FIXED   STAES  AND   BINARY  SYSTEMS.   231 

the  fixed  stars  or  some  of  them  really  have  plan 
ets  revolving  round  them  ?"  To  this  he  justly 
replies,  that  "  the  only  proof  that  the  fixed  stars 
are  the  centres  of  planetary  systems,  resides  in 
the  assumption  that  these  stars  are  like  the  sun  ; 
— resemble  him  in  their  qualities  and  nature, 
and  therefore  must  have  the  same  offices  and  the 
same  appendage." 

In  admitting  that  the  stars,  like  the  sun,  shine 
with  an  independent  light,  our  author  attempts 
to  reduce  the  force  of  this  point  of  resemblance 
by  asserting,  that  "they  resemble  not  only  the 
sun,  but  nebulous  patches  in  the  sky,  and  the 
tails  of  comets,"  and  that  "  there  is  no  obvious 
distinction  between  the  original  light  of  the  stars 
and  the  reflected  light  of  the  planets."  Now 
these  statements  are  either  irrelevant  or  erro 
neous.  The  nebulous  patches  are  clusters  of 
stars.  It  is  not  true  that  comets'  tails  are  self- 
luminous,  and  it  is  utterly  untrue  that  star  light 
and  planet  light  are  the  same.  Our  author  ought 
to  have  known  that  the  reflected  light  of  the 
planets  contains  precisely  the  same  definite  dark 
lines  in  their  spectra  as  the  light  of  the  sun, 
which  it  ought  to  do,  as  it  is  the  same  light ; 


2S2  MORE  WORLDS  THAN  ONE. 

while  it  has  been  proved  by  the  direct  observa 
tions  of  Fraunhofer  and  others,  that  the  light  of 
Sir-iusj  Procyon,  and  other  stars,  is  essentially 
different,  having  definite  dark  lines  which  do 
not  exist  in  the  light  of  the  sun. 

His  next  assertion  is  that  though  the  mass  of 
certain  stars  is  one-third  of  that  of  the  sun,  yet 
their  matter  may  be  diffused  through  a  sphere 
equal  to  the  earth's  annual  orbit,  and  that  this 
may  be  the  matrix,  so  to  speak  both  of  the  sun 
and  planets  of  a  system  not  yet  formed — thus 
taking  for  granted  the  truth  of  the  nebular 
theory,  adopted  by  the  author  of  the  Vestiges  of 
Creation,  and  maintained  only  by  persons  who 
have  very  erroneous  ideas  of  creation.  The 
worlds  were  not  made  by  the  operation  of  law, 
but  by  the  immediate  agency  of  the  Almighty. 
Sir  Isaac  Newton  considered  the  nebular  theory 
as  tending  to  Atheism,  and  in  his  five  interesting 
letters  to  Dr.  Bentley,  he  has  ably  controverted 
it.  "  The  growth  of  new  systems,"  he  says,  "out 
of  old  ones,  (the  doctrine  maintained  by  the  Es 
sayist,)  without  the  mediation  of  a  Divine  power, 
seems  to  me  apparently  absurd."  "  The  diurnal 
rotation  of  the  planets  could  not  be  derived  from 


FIXED  STARS  AND   BINARY  SYSTEMS.   233 

gravity,  but  required  a  Divine  arm  to  impress 
them."  "  The  same  power,"  says  Newton, 
"  whether  natural  or  supernatural,  which  placed 
the  sun  in  the  centre  of  the  six  primary  planets, 
placed  Saturn  in  the  centre  of  the  orb  of  his  five 
secondary  planets  ;  and  Jupiter  in  the  centre  of 
his  four  secondary  planets ;  and  the  Earth  in  the 
centre  of  the  moon's  orbit ;  and  therefore  had 
this  cause  been  a  blind  one,  without  contrivance 
or  design,  the  sun  would  have  been  a  body  of  the 
same  kind  with  Saturn,  Jupiter,  and  the  Earth  ; 
that  is  without  light  or  heat.  Why  there  is  one 
body  in  our  system  qualified  to  give  light  and 
heat  to  all  the  rest,  I  know  no  reason,  but  be 
cause  the  Author  of  the  system  thought  it  con 
venient  ;  and  why  there  is  but  one  body  of 
this  kind,  I  know  no  reason,  but  because  one 
was  sufficient  to  warm  and  enlighten  all  the 
rest."* 

That  the  stars  undergo  changes  in  their  me 
chanical  condition,  the  Essayist  considers  to  be 
proved  by  observation.  One  of  these  proofs  is 
the  different  colors  of  different  stars,  a  fact 
certainly,  but  not  a  proof  of  change.  Had  their 

*  Newtoni  Opera,  torn .  iv.  pp.  430,  438. 


234  MORE  WORLDS  THAN  ONE. 

colors  changed*  we  might  have  inferred  a 
change  of  condition  ;  but  knowing  that  no  such 
change  takes  place,  our  author  most  presump 
tuously  regards  "  their  different  colors  as  aris 
ing  from  their  being  at  different  stages  of  their 
progress,"  an  opinion  without  a  shadow  of  prob 
ability  either  from  observation  or  analogy.  His 
next  proof  of  change  is  derived  from  the. "  mighty 
changes  of  which  we  have  evidence  in  the  view 
which  geology  gives  us  of  the  history  of  this 
Earth  ;"  but  this  is  no  proof  at  all.  The  changes 
there  referred  to  are  mere  changes  in  the  crust 
of  the  Earth,  and  not  in  its  mechanical  condition, 
and  changes  too,  which  would  not  show  them 
selves  even  to  the  moon  by  any  change  of  color 
or  of  aspect.  "7/J  therefore,"  the  Essayist  con 
tinues,  "  stellar  globes  can  become  planetary 
systems  in  the  progress  of  ages,  it  will  not  be  at 
all  inconsistent  with  what  we  know  of  the  order 
of  nature,  that  only  a  few,  or  even  that  only 
one,  (our  Earth  he  means,)  should  have  yet 
reached  that  condition.  All  the  others  but  the 

*  Ptolemy  is  said  to  have  noted  Sirius  as  a  red  star,  though  it  is  now 
white.  Sirius  twinkles  with  red  and  blue  light,  and  Ptolemy's  eyes,  like 
those  of  several  other  persons,  may  have  been  more  sensitive  to  the  red 
than  the  blue  rays. 


FIXED  STARS  AND  BINARY  SYSTEMS.       235 

one  (our  Earth)  may  be  systems  yet  unformed, 
(or  fragments  or  sparks,  as  lie  subsequently  calls 
them,)  struck  off  in  the  forming  of  the  one  ! " 
To  such,  a  succession  of  assertions  and  hypothe 
ses  it  is  scarcely  necessary  to  reply.  Stellar 
globes  have  never  become  planetary  systems ; 
and  nature  has  no  such  order.  "We  are  thus 
thrown  back  to  the  astronomy  of  Julius  Caesar : 

<J  The  skies  are  painted  with  unnumbered  sparks." 

SHAKSPEARE. 

The  next  argument  adduced  by  our  author, 
that  the  stars  are  unlike  our  sun,  is  the  exist 
ence  of  changes  in  the  stars  supposed  to  be 
indicated  by  the  disappearance  of  some  stars, 
the  appearance  of  others,  and  the  variations  in 
the  light  of  a  considerable  number.  The  dis 
appearance  of  a  star  proves  only  that  it  has 
turned  a  dark  side  to  our  system,  and  the  ap 
pearance  of  a  new  star,  that  its  luminous  side 
has  come  round  to  us  in  the  course  of  its  rota 
tion  ;  while  the  variations  in  the  light  of  others 
may  arise  from  spots  upon  their  surface,  from 
eclipses  by  their  planets,  or  from  obscuration 
from  comets7  tails,  when  the  variations  are  of 
an  irregular  character.  From  all  these  causes 


236  MOEE  WORLDS   THAN   ONE. 

our  own  sun  may  be  a  variable  star  to  other 
planets.  To  us  even  its  light  is  diminished 
when  large  spots  come  across  its  disc ;  and 
when  we  consider  the  great  number  of  comets 
which  belong  to  our  system,  and  the  immense 
magnitude  of  their  tails,  the  sun's  light  must 
be  occasionally  obscured  by  the  interposition 
of  these  imperfectly  transparent  bodies. 

That  the  Fixed  Stars  are  like  our  Sun  in 
every  point  in  which  it  is  possible  to  compare 
them,  will  not  now  be  doubted  we  think  by 
our  readers.  That  they  are  suns  themselves, 
as  Copernicus,  Galileo,  Kepler,  and  Huygens, 
and  every  astronomer  believes,  and  as  all  anal 
ogy  proves,  is  a  doctrine  which,  we  trust,  will 
equally  command  their  faith. 

In  concluding  his  chapter  on  the  Fixed  Stars, 
our  Essayist  utters  sentiments,  and  throws  out 
conjectures  so  insulting  to  Astronomy,  and  cast 
ing  such  ridicule  even  on  the  subject  of  his  own 
work,  that  we  can  ascribe  them  only  to  some 
morbid  condition  of  the  mental  powers,  which 
feeds  upon  paradox,  and  delights  in  doing  vio 
lence  to  sentiments  deeply  cherished,  and  to 
opinions  universally  believed.  We  almost  doubt 


FIXED  STARS  AND  BINARY  SYSTEMS.       237 

the  accuracy  of  our  vision,  when  we  read  the 
conjecture  that  the  glorious  stars  which  compose 
the  sidereal  universe, — that  "  Arcturus,  Orion, 
and  the  Pleiades,"  which  Scripture  tells  us 
"  God  made,"  were  never  created  by  Him  at 
all,  and  aare  really  long  since  extinct!"  He 
had  previously  stated,  "that  in  consequence  of 
the  time  employed  in  the  transmission  of  visual 
impressions,  our  seeing  a  star,  is  evidence  not 
that  it  exists  now,  but  that  it  existed  it  may  be 
many  thousands  of  years  ago ;"  and  thinking 
that  such  a  statement  might  seem  to  some  read 
ers  to  throw  doubts  upon  reasonings  which  he 
had  employed,  he  makes  the  following  obser 
vation  : — "  It  may  be  said  that  a  star  which  was 
a  mere  chaos  when  the  light  by  which  we  see  it 
set  out  from  it,  may,  in  the  thousands  of  years 
which  have  since  elapsed,  have  grown  into  an 
orderly  world.  To  which  bare  possibility  we 
may  oppose  another  supposition,  at  least  equally 
possible,  that  the  distant  stars  were  sparJcs  or  frag 
ments  struck  off  in  the  formation  of  the  Solar  sys 
tem,  which  are  REALLY  long  since  extinct,  and 
survive  in  appearance  only  by  the  light  which 
they  at  first  emitted"  t 


238  MOKE  WORLDS  THAN  ONE. 

With  such  a  speculation  before  us,  we  need 
not  put  the  question  with  which  we  intended 
to  conclude  this  chapter.  If  the  stars  are  not 
suns,  for  what  conceivable  purpose  were  they 
created  ?  Our  author  has  answered  the  ques 
tion  by  asserting,  that  they  were  never  created 
at  all !  To  such  philosophy  and  theology  we 
prefer  that  of  the  poet — • 

"  Eacli  of  these  stars  is  a  religious  house  ; 
I  saw  their  altars  smoke,  their  incense  rise, 
And  heard  hosannahs  ring  through  every  sphere. 
The  great  Proprietor's  all-bounteous  hand 
Leaves  nothing  waste,  but  sows  these  fiery  fields 
With  seeds  of  reason,  which  to  virtues  rise 
Beneath  his  genial  ray." 

YOUNG. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

OBJECTIONS  FROM  THE  NATUKE  OF  THE  PLANETS. 

HAYING  sullied  the  glories  of  the  sidereal 
world  by  converting  the  stars  and  systems  which 
compose  it,  into  'vapor,  gas,  and  comets7  tails, 
the  Essayist  proceeds  to  apply  the  same  process 
to  the  planets  of  the  Solar  system,  converting 
those  exterior  to  the  Earth  into  water  and  mud, 
and  the  interior  ones  into  cinder  or  sheets  of 
rigid  slag  like  the  moon  ! 

This  process  commences  with  Neptune,  which 
he  describes  as  a  dark  and  cold  world,  where 
the  light  and  heat  of  the  sun  is  incapable  of 
"  unfolding  the  vital  powers,  and  cherishing  the 
vital  enjoyments  of  animals ;" — an  assumption 
without  any  evidence  to  support  it.  It  is  true, 
that  if  we  consider  the  solar  influences  as  ema 
nations  following  a  geometrical  law,  their  power 


240  MORE  WOELDS  THAN  ONE. 

upon  the  surface  of  Neptune  must  be  immensely 
enfeebled ;  but  such,  a  law  does  not  exist.  Al 
though  the  Sun  is  nearest  the  Earth  in  win 
ter,  his  light  and  heat  are,  from  different 
causes,  greatly  reduced,  and  we  know,  as  we 
have  shown  in  a  former  chapter,  that  there 
may  be  conditions  of  the  atmosphere  of  the 
remoter  planets  which  may  procure  for  them 
more  genial  influence  from  the  Sun,  or  there 
may  be  temperatures  in  their  interior  which 
may  supply  the  place  of  radiated  heat. 

The  same  observations  which  apply  to  Nep 
tune  are  applicable  to  Uranus,  Saturn,  and 
Jupiter, — the  same  objections  on  the  part  of 
the  Essayist,  and  the  same  reply  to  them. 
Jupiter,  however,  is  the  planet  to  which  he 
especially  calls  our  attention ;  and  after  much 
irrelevant  speculation  respecting  the  internal 
condition  of  our  globe,  as  produced  by  the  su 
perincumbent  weight  of  its  outer  formations, 
and  "  allowing  for  the  compression  of  the  inte 
rior  parts  of  Jupiter,"  he  pronounces  it  "toler 
ably  certain  that  his  density  is  not  greater  than 
it  would  be  if  his  entire  globe  were  composed  of 
water,"  and  he  concludes  that  Jupiter  must  be 


NATUKE  OF  THE  PLANETS.      241 

a  mere  sphere  of  water.  He  afterwards  states 
that  there  is  "  much,  evidence  against  the  exist 
ence  of  solid  land "  in  that  planet ;  but  in 
opposition  to  this  evidence,  he  subsequently 
contributes  a  few  cinders  at  the  centre, — arti 
cles,  doubtless,  of  peculiar  value  and  interest, 
where  everything  else  is  water.  The  existence 
of  cinders,  however,  where  there  is  no  heat,  and 
where,  as  we  shall  presently  see,  the  water  is 
ice,  must  have  perplexed  his  chemistry,  and 
hence  he  wisely  withdraws  them,  by  telling  us 
that  the  waters  in  Jupiter  are  bottomless,  that 
is,  without  a  nucleus  of  cinders. 

In  order  to  prove  that  Jupiter  and  the  exte 
rior  planets  cannot  be  inhabited,  he  adduces 
the  extreme  cold  which  must  exist  upon  their 
surface ;  but  when  his  assertion  that  Jupiter  is 
a  sphere  of  water,  and,  if  peopled  at  all, 
peopled  with  cartilaginous  and  glutinous  mon 
sters,  boneless,  watery,  pulpy  creatures,  floating 
in  the  fluid,  is  met  with  the  objection  that  the 
waters  must  he  frozen  into  ice,  he  has  no  diffi 
culty  in  making  Jupiter  as  hot  to  answer  this 
one  purpose,  as  he  formerly  made  it  cold  to 
answer  another.  In  this  wonderful  process  of 


24:2  MORE   WORLDS   THAN   ONE. 

adaptation,  our  author's  genius  and  his  in 
ductive  method  are  singularly  displayed.  No 
difficulty  is  to  him  insurmountable.  In  his 
omniscience  of  speculation  he  finds  a  theory  for 
anything  or  everything  ;  "  Even  in  the  outer  re 
gions  of  our  atmosphere,"  he  says,  "the  cold  is 
probably  very  many  degrees  below  freezing, 
and  in  the  blank  and  airless  void  beyond,  it  may 
be  colder  still.  It  has  been  calculated  by  phys 
ical  philosophers,  on  grounds  which  seem  to 
be  solid,  that  the  cold  in  the  space  beyond 
our  atmosphere  is  100°  below  Zero.  The  space 
near  to  Jupiter,  IF  AN  ABSOLUTE  VACUUM,  in 
which  there  is  no  matter  to  receive  and  retain, 

MAY,  PEEHAPSrBE  NO  COLDER  THAN  IT  IS  NEARER 

THE  SUN  !"  Were  we  to  indulge  in  arbitrary 
conjectures  like  these,  we  could  refute,  without 
argument,  all  our  author's  objections  to  a  plu 
rality  of  worlds ;  but  without  availing  ourselves 
of  so  destructive  a  weapon,  may  we  not,  upon 
good  grounds,  prefer  the  probable  ice  to  the 
possible  water,  and  accommodate  the  inhab 
itants  of  Jupiter  with  very  comfortable  quarters, 
in  huts  of  snow  and  houses  of  crystal,  warmed 
by  subterranean  heat,  and  lighted  with  ths 


NATUKE  OF  THE  PLANETS.      243 

hydrogen  of  its  waters,  and  its  cinders  not 
wholly  deprived  of  their  bitumen  ? 

But  we  are  not  driven  to  the  necessity  of  be 
lieving  that  Jupiter  and  the  exterior  planets 
are  either  water  or  ice.  That  they  are  neither 
composed  of  the  one  material  nor  the  other,  is 
proved  by  direct  experiment.  If  their  surfaces 
were  either  wholly  or  partly  aqueous,  the  rays 
reflected  from  them  when  the  planets  are  in 
quadrature,  would  contain,  what  it  does  not, 
a  large  portion  of  polarized  light ;  and  if  their 
crust  consisted  of  mountains,  and  precipices, 
and  rocks  of  ice,  some  of  whose  faces  must 
occasionally  reflect  the  incident  light  at  nearly 
the  polarizing  angle,  the  polarization  of  their 
light  would  be  distinctly  indicated. 

Had  our  author  not  exhibited  the  great 
amount  of  his  knowledge, — an  amount  so  mas 
sive  as  occasionally  to  smother  his  reason,  we 
should  have  charged  him  with  ignorance  of  the 
various  forms  and  conditions  of  density,  in 
which  the  same  elements  may  be  combined ; 
but  we  believe  that  he  knows  these  as  well  as 
we  do,,  and,  in  our  position,  would  use  them 
more  skilfully.  It  is  difficult  to  understand 


244:  MORE   WORLDS  THAN  ONE. 

why  Jupiter  should  be  made  of  water.  His  den 
sity  is  1-359,  (that  of  the  Earth  being  5'66,  and 
that  of  water  being  I'OOO,)  greater  even  than 
that  of  certain  specimens  of  coal,  far  greater 
than  amianthus,  and  pumice  stone,  which  are 
lighter  than  water.  Silex  or  flint,  too,  occurs 
with  such  various  densities  that  there  are  con 
ditions  of  it  less  dense  than  Jupiter.  In  the 
state  of  tabasheer  it  is  very  much  lighter  than 
water.  In  the  state  of  siliceous  sinter  its  den 
sity  is  only  1/8.  In  the  state  of  opal  its  density 
is  1'9,  and  in  certain  varieties  of  quartz  it  is  so 
high  as  2*88.  There  are  pitchstones,  too,  vary 
ing  from  1-9  of  specific  gravity  to  2'70  ;  so  that 
the  hardest  mineral  may  exist  in  Jupiter,  and 
yet  his  density  not  exceed  1'359.  But  why 
should  the  minerals  in  Jupiter  be  of  the  same 
nature  as  those  on  the  Earth  ?  May  not  the 
elementary  atoms  of  matter  be  there  combined 
according  to  different  laws,  and  form  spars,  and 
gems,  and  metals,  entirely  different  from  ours  ? 
Admitting,  however,  for  a  moment,  the  suppo 
sition,  otherwise  inadmissible,  that  there  is  a 
terrestrial  type  of  inorganic  bodies  which  is  to 
be  the  exemplar  for  all  the  planets,  we  have 


NATURE  OF  THE  PLANETS.      245 

only  to  suppose  these  planets  to  be  hollow,  or 
to  contain  large  cavities,  in  order  to  reconcile 
their  average  densities  with  the  densities  of 
terrestrial  bodies. 

The  arguments  against  Saturn  being  inhab 
ited,  our  author  considers  to  be  much  stronger 
than  in  the  case  of  Jupiter.  He  tells  us  that 
"  the  outward  part  of  the  globe  of  Saturn  is  prov 
ed  to  be  vapor  by  his  streaks  and  belts,"  and 
that  "  we  must  either  suppose  that  he  has  no 
inhabitants,  or  that  they  are  aqueous  gelatinous 
creatures  too  sluggish  almost  to  l>e  deemed 
alive,  floating  in  their  ice  cold  water,  and 
shrouded  for  ever  by  their  humid  skies!'7 
He  "cannot  tell  us,"  he  says,  "whether  they 
have  eyes  or  no,  but  probably  if  they  had,  they 
would  never  see  the  sun ;  and  therefore,"  he 
continues,  "we  need  not  commiserate  their  lot 
in  not  seeing  the  host  of  Saturnian  satellites, 
and  the  ring  which  to  an  intelligent  Saturnian 
spectator  would  be  so  splendid  a  celestial  ob 
ject.  The  rang  is  a  glorious  object  for  man's 
view  and  his  contemplation,  and  therefore  is 
not  altogether  without  its  use.  Still  less  need 
21* 


246  MORE   WORLDS   THAN   ONE. 

we  (as  some*  appear  to  do)  regard  as  a  serious 
misfortune  to  the  inhabitants  of  certain  regions 
of  the  planet,  a  solar  eclipse  of  fifteen  years' 
duration,  to  which  they  are  liable  by  the  inter 
position  of  the  ring  between  them  and  the  sun." 
This  specimen  of  our  author's  dialectics,  in 
which  a  large  dose  of  banter  and  ridicule  is 
seasoned,  with  a  little  condiment  of  science, 
forms  a  painful  contrast  with  the  following 
noble  passage,  in  which  Sir  John  Herschel  dis 
cusses  the  very  same  subject.  "  The  rings  of 
Saturn  must  present  a  magnificent  spectacle 
from  those  regions  of  the  planets  which  lie  above 
their  enlightened  sides,  as  vast  arches  spanning 
the  sky  from  horizon  to  horizon,  and  holding  an 
almost  invariable  situation  among  the  stars. 
On  the  other  hand,  in  the  regions  beneath  the 
dark  side,  a  solar  eclipse  of  fifteen  years  in  dur 
ation,  under  their  shadow,  must  afford  (to  our 
ideas)  an  inhospitable  asylum  to  animated 
beings,  ill  compensated  by  the  faint  light  of 
the  satellites.  But  we  shall  do  wrong  to  judge 


*  The  author  here  refers  to  Sir  John  Herschel,  whose  authority  h« 
quotes  for  the  Solar  eclipse  of  fifteen  years.— Outlines,  &c.,§52-2. 


NATURE   OF  THE  PLANETS.  247 

of  the  fitness  or  unfitness  of  their  condition 
from  what  we  see  aiming  us,  when  perhaps  the 
very  combinations  which  only  convey  images 
of  horror  to  our  minds,  may  be,  in  reality,  thea 
tres  of  the  most  striking  and  glorious  displays  of 
beneficent  contrivance" 

The  remarkable  phenomenon,  however,  of  a 
fifteen  years'  eclipse  of  the  sun  to  the  regions  of 
Saturn,  placed  under  the  shadow  of  the  dark 
side  of  the  ring,  does  not  exist.  Dr.  Lardner, 
in  an  elaborate  memoir,  On  the  Appearance  of 
Saturn's  Rings  to  the  Inhabitants  of  the  Planet,'* 
has  solved  the  problem  of  the  appearance  of  the 
system  of  rings  in  the  Saturn  ian  firmament, 
and  their  effect  in  eclipsing  occasionally  and 
temporarily  the  sun,  the  eight  moons,  and  other 
celestial  objects. 

"It  is  there  demonstrated,"  he  says,  "that 
the  infinite  skill  of  the  great  Architect  of  the 
universe  has  not  permitted  that  this  stupendous 
annular  appendage,  the  uses  of  which  still  remain 
undiscovered,  should  be  the  cause  of  such  dark 
ness  and  desolation  to  the  inhabitants  of  the 
planet,  and  such  an  aggravation  of  the  rigors 

*  Transactions  of  the  Astronomical  Society,  1853,  vol.  xxii. 


248  MORE  WORLDS  THAN  ONE. 

of  their  fifteen  years'  winter,  as  it  has  been  in 
ferred  to  be It  is  shown,  on  the 

contrary,  that  by  the  apparent  motion  of  the 
heavens,  produced  by  the  diurnal  rotation  of  Sat- 
turn,  the  celestial  objects,  including, of  course,the 
sun  and  the  eight  moons,  are  not  carried  paral 
lel  to  the  edges  of  the  rings,  as  has  been  hitherto 
supposed ;  that  they  are  moved  so  as  to  pass 
alternately  from  side  to  side  of  each  of  these 
edges ;  that,  in  general,  such  objects  as  pass 
under  the  rings  are  only  occulted  by  them  for 
short  intervals,  before  and  after  their  meridional 
culmination ;  that  though  under  some  rare  and 
exceptional  circumstances  and  conditions,  cer 
tain  objects,  the  sun  being  among  the  number, 
are  occulted  from  rising  to  setting,  the  contin 
uance  of  such  phenomena  is  not  such  as  has 
been  supposed,  and  the  places  of  its  occurrence 
are  far  more  limited.  In  short,  it  has  no  such 
character  as  would  deprive  the  planet  of  any 
essential  condition  ofhabitability" 

By  arguments  "  of  the  same  kind,  as  in  the 
case  of  Jupiter  and  Saturn,  but  greatly  increased 
in  strength,"  as  he  alleges,  our  Essayist  banishes 
inhabitants  from  Neptune  and  Uranus,  and  he 


NATURE  OF  THE  PLANETS.  249 

sneeringly  "  commends  the  supposition  of  the 
probable  watery  nature  and  low  vitality  of  their 
inhabitants  to  the  consideration  of  those  who 
contend  for  inhabitants  in  those  remote  regions 
of  the  Solar  system." 

In  returning  towards  the  sun,  our  author 
pays  his  passing  respects  to  Mars,  which  he 
thinks  is  more  likely  to  have  inhabitants  than 
any  other  planet.  This  probability,  however, 
disappears,  and  he  concedes  to  this  planet  the 
possibility  of  having  "  creatures  of  the  nature  of 
corals  and  molluscs,  saurians  and  iguanodons." 

The  twenty-nine  asteroids  between  Mars  and 
Jupiter  afford  our  author  a  new  and  inviting 
field  for  speculation.  He  considers  them  as 
mere  dots,  whose  form  is  not  even  known  to  be 
spherical.  Setting  aside  the  theory  that  they 
are  the  fragments  of  an  exploded  planet,  he 
thinks  "they  may  be  the  results  of  some  imper 
fectly  effected  concentration  of  the  elements  of 
our  system  (of  star  dust),  which  if  it  had  gone 
on  more  completely  and  regularly,  might  have 
produced  another  planet  between  Mars  and  Ju 
piter.  Perhaps  they  are  only  the  larger  masses 
among  a  great  number  of  smaller  ones,  result- 


250  MORE  WORLDS  THAN  ONE. 

ing  from  such,  a  process ;  and  it  is  very  con 
ceivable  that  the  meteoric  stones,  which  have 
from  time  to  time  fallen  upon  the  Earth's  sur 
face,  are  other  results  of  the  like  process  ; — bits 
of  planets  which  have  failed  in  the  making,  and 
lost  their  way  till  arrested  by  the  resistance  of 
the  Earth's  atmosphere !" 

The  two  interior  planets,  Venus  and  Mer 
cury,  are  depopulated  into  a  single  page.  The 
light  and  heat  of  Venus  is  admitted  to  be  only 
"  double  those  which  come  to  the  Earth."  He 
finds  it  "  hard  to  say  what  kind  of  animals  he 
could  place  in  her,  except  perhaps  the  micro 
scopic  creatures  with  siliceous  coverings,  which, 
as  modern  explorers  assert,  are  almost  inde 
structible  by  heat." — u  Of  Mercury,"  he  says, 
"we  know  still  less,  and  he  has  not,  so  far  as 
we  can  tell,  any  of  the  conditions  which  make 
animal  existence  conceivable."  Opinions  of  a 
very  different  nature  from  these  we  have 
already  had  occasion  to  state  in  a  preceding 
chapter,  and  we  must  leave  it  to  the  judgment 
of  the  reader  to  decide  upon  their  relative 
probabilities. 

In  order  to  combine  under  on  general  prin- 


NATUKE  OF  THE   PLANETS.  251 

eiple  the  views  which  lie  has  taken  of  the 
condition  of  the  individual  planets,  the  Essayist 
adopts  the  nebular  hypothesis,  in  which  the  Sun 
and  all  the  planets  are  formed  out  of  star  dust 
or  fire-mist,  by  its  gradual  contraction  and  the 
subsequent  solidification  of  its  parts,  without 
any  interference  on  the  part  of  the  Almighty. 
Upon  this  hypothesis  he  erects  a  scheme  or  a 
theory  of  the  Solar  system,  which  he  consid 
ers  as  having  a  sort  of  religioas  dignity,  though 
he  fears  that,  at  first,  it  may  appear,  to  many, 
rash,  fanciful,  and  almost  irreverent.  In  this 
scheme,  the  fire  and  water  of  the  nebular 
mass  have  been  separated  during  their  "planet- 
making  powers"  "  the  water  and  the  va 
por  which  belong  to  the  system  being  driven 
off  into  the  outer  regions  of  its  vast  cir 
cuit,  while  the  solid  masses,  ....  such  as 
result  from  the  fusion  of  the  most  solid 
materials,  lie  nearer  the  Sun,  and  are  found 
principally  within  the  orbit  of  Jupiter."  In 
support  of  these  theories  he  adduces  the 
zodiacal  light,  itself  a  creature  of  theory,  as  an 
appendage  to  the  Sun,  and  as  the  remains  of 
the  Sun's  atmosphere  extending  beyond  the 


252  MOKE   WORLDS   THAN   ONE. 

orbits  of  Mercury  and  Venus — "planets  which, 
have  not  yet  fully  emerged  from  the  atmosphere 
in  which  they  had  their  origin — the  mother 
light  and  mother  fire  in  which  they  began  to  crys* 
tallize,  as  crystals  do  in  their  mother  water !' 
These  planets  are,  therefore,  within  a  nebular 
region,  which  may  easily  be  conceived  to  be  un* 
inhabitable.  And  where  this  nebular  region, 
marked  by  the  zodiacal  light,  terminates,  the 
world  of  life  begins,  namely,  at  the  Earth ! 
"  The  orlit  of  the  Earth  is  the  temperate  zone 
of  the  Solar  system,  and  in  that  zone  is  the 
play  of  Hot  and  Cold,  of  Moist  and  Dry  pos 
sible.7' 

With  these  wild  and  extravagant  notions 
our  author  connects  the  shooting  stars  or 
meteors  which  appear  in  such  numbers  in  our 
atmosphere.  He  considers  them  as  "  revolving 
specks  of  nebulas,"  the  "outriders  of  the  zo 
diacal  light,"  which,  when  "broken  into  patches, 
arc  seen  as  stars  for  the  moment  we  are  near  to 
them." — "  And  if  this  be  true,"  he  continues, 
"  we  have  to  correct,  in  a  certain  way,  what  we 
have  previously  said  of  the  zodiacal  light :  that 
no  one  had  thought  of  resolving  it  into  stars ; 


NATURE  OF  THE  PLANETS.      253 

for  it  would  thus  appear,  that  in  its  outer  region 
it  resolves  itself  into  stars,  visible,  though  but  for  a 
moment,  to  the  naked  eye  /" 

In  concluding  this  novel  and  startling  theory 
of  the  Solar  system,  the  Essayist  tells  us  that 
"  the  Earth  is  placed  in  that  region  of  the 
system  in  which  the  planet-forming  powers  are 
the  most  vigorous  and  potent ; — that  the 
Earth  is  really  the  largest  planetary  body  in 
the  Solar  system, — its  domestic  hearth,  and  the 
only  world  in  the  universe"*  We  are  unwilling 
to  charge  the  author  of  such  theories  with. 

*  A  very  different  opinion  is  stated  by  Dr.  Whewell,  in  his  Bridgewater 
Treatise.  "  The  view  of  the  universe,"  says  he,  "  expands  also  on  another 
side.  The  Earth,  the  globular  body  thus  covered  with  life,  is  not  the  only 
globe  in  the  universe.  There  are  circling  about  our  own  Sun  six  others, 
so  far  as  we  can  judge,  perfectly  analogous  in  their  nature  :  besides  our 
Moon  and  other  bodies  analogous  to  it.  JVo  one  can  resist  the  temptation 
to  conjecture  that  these  globes,  some  of  them  much  larger  than  our  own, 
are  not  dead  and  barren  ; — that  they  are,  like  ours,  occupied  with  organi 
zation,  life,  intelligence.  To  conjecture  is  all  that  we  can  do  ;  yet  even 
by  the  perception  of  such  a  possibility,  our  view  of  the  kingdom  of  nature 
is  enlarged  and  elevated." — Chap.  ii.  pp.  269,270.  The  rest  of  this  chap 
ter,  "  On  the  Vastness  of  the  Universe" — in  which  he  speaks  of  the  bi 
liary  systems  of  the  stars  as  "giving  rise  possibly  to  new  conditions  of 
worlds," — of  "the  millions  of  stars"  in  the  universe,  as  containing  "  the 
whole  range  of  created  objects  in  our  own  system," — and  of  "  the  ten 
dency  of  all  the  arrangements  which  we  can  comprehend  to  support  the 
existence,  develop  the  faculties,  and  to  promote  the  happiness  of  count 
less  species  of  creature," — is  well  worthy  of  the  perusal  of  the  read 
er,  and  forms  a  striking  contrast  with  the  opinions  of  the  Essayist. 

22 


254  MORR   WORLDS   THAN   ONE. 

cherishing  opinions  hostile  to  religion.  "We 
believe  that  he  is  ignorant  of  their  tendency, 
and  that  he  has  forgotten  the  truths  of  inspira 
tion,  and  even  those  of  natural  religion,  amid 
the  excitement  of  discussions,  from  which  he 
is  to  obtain  the  high  reputation  of  "  having 
accounted  for,  and  reduced  into  consistency 
and  connection,  a  very  extraordinary  number 
of  points  hitherto  unexplained."  But,  however 
sincere  may  be  his  piety,  which  we  do  not 
question,  we  tell  him,  with  confidence,  that 
his  theories  are  replete  with  danger,  and  that 
young  minds  will  draw  from  them  opinions 
the  very  reverse  of  his  own.  When  we  are 
told  that  a  planet  has  been  bungled  in  its 
formation,  that  meteoric  stones  are  bits  of 
planets  which  have  failed  in  the  making,*  and 
lost  their  way,  can  we  believe  that  the  all-wise 
Creator  was  present  at  the  process,  "  making 
the  earth  by  His  power,  and  establishing  the 
world  by  His  wisdom  ?"  Can  we  believe  that 
He  who  formed  the  worlds  has  made  only  one, 

*  "  We  know  of  no  blemishes  or  blunders  in  creation,"  says  Pro- 
fi-ssor  Sedgwick,  "  and  were  they  there,  what  would  it  mailer  to  our 
cqnception  of  them,  whether  they  sprang  from  deud  material  laws  or 
dained  by  an  all-powerful  and  all-seeing  God,  or  from  an  immediate  de 
fect  iu  creative  power  ?" 


NATUEE   OF  THE   PLANETS.  255 

and  that,  in  place  of  resting  on  the  seventh 
day,  He  rested  during  the  whole  week  of  crea 
tion,  and  still  rests,  having  transferred  His 
almighty  power  to  certain  laws  of  matter  and 
motion,  by  which  the  Sun  and  all  his  planets 
were  manufactured  from  nebulous  matter? 
Sir  Isaac  Newton  considered  the  nebular  theory, 
though  in  his  time  not  known  by  that  name, 
as  not  only  absurd,  but  verging  on  atheism. 
In  reference  to  the  creation  of  a  central  and 
immovable  sun,  he  observes,  that  to  suppose  a 
"  central  particle  so  accurately  placed  in  the 
middle  (of  nebulous  matter  in  a  finite  space) 
as  to  be  always  equally  attracted  on  all  sides, 
and  thereby  continue  without  motion,  seems  to 
me  fully  as  hard  as  to  make  the  sharpest 
needle  stand  upright  on  its  point  upon  a 
looking-glass.  And  much  harder  it  is  to  sup 
pose  that  all  the  particles  in  an  infinite  space 
should  be  so  accurately  poised,  one  upon  an 
other,  as  to  stand  still  in  a  perfect  equilibrium. 
For  I  reckon  this  as  hard  as  to  make  not  one 
needle  only,  but  an  infinite  number  of  them, 
stand  accurately  poised  upon  their  points."* 

*  Letter  to  Bentley,  Lett.  iv. 


256  MOKE   WORLDS   THAN   ONE. 

And  in  another  place  he  urges  another  objec 
tion  to  the  hypothesis  :  "  But  how  the  matter 
(the  nebular  matter)  should  divide  itself  into 
two  sorts,  and  that  part  of  it  which  is  fit  to 
compose  a  shining  body  should  fall  down  into 
one  mass,  and  make  a  sun,  and  the  rest,  which 
is  fit  to  compose  an  opaque  body,  should 
coalesce,  not  into  one  great  body,  like  the 
shining  matter,  but  into  many  little  ones,  I  do 
not  think  explicable  by  mere  natural  causes, 
but  am  forced  to  ascribe  it  to  the  counsel  and 
contrivance  of  a  voluntary  agent.' '*  And  with 
respect  to  the  diurnal  rotation  of  the  planets, 
he  distinctly  declares  that  "they  could  not  be 
derived  from  gravity,  but  required  a  divine  arm 
to  impress  them."f 

A  more  modern,  and  still  living  author,  who, 
we  trust,  will  long  continue  an  honor  to  science 
and  to  his  country,  has  characterized  specula 
tions  like  these,  as  "  dashing  from  hypothesis 
to  hypothesis,  and  building  a  scheme  of  nature 
against  nature,  and  against  the  sober  interpre 
tation  of  those  who  have  best  studied  their 
works."  We  will  not  say  of  the  language  of  the 

*  Letter  to  Bentley,  Lett.  i.  f  Id.  Lett.  iv. 


NATURE  OF  THE  PLANETS.      257 

Essayist,  when  lie  speaks  of  Nature,  or  the  God 
of  Nature,  having  failed  in  producing  a  planet 
where  He  intended  it  to  be,  and  of  haying  re 
corded  that  failure  by  broken  planets  and  show 
ers  of  meteoric  stones  ;* — we  will  not  say  what 
Professor  Sedgwick  has  said  of  speculations 
about  the  nebular  theory  not  more  absurd,  that 
they  are  "the  raying  madness  of  hypothetical 
extravagance ;"  but  we  sincerely,  and  without 
desiring  to  give  offence,  adopt  the  rest  of  his 
declaration,  "  that  it  is  at  open  war  with  all  the 
calm  lessons  of  inductive  truth,  and,  in  any  in 
terpretation  we  can  give  it,  bears  upon  its  front 
the  stamp  of  folly  and  irreverence  towards  the 
God  of  Nature." 

"  Though  this  Earth,"  says  Dr.  Chalmers, 
"  and  these  heavens  were  to  disappear,  there 
are  other  worlds  which  roll  afar ; — the  light  of 
other  suns  shines  upon  them,  and  the  sky 
which  mantles  them  is  garnished  with  other 
stars.  Is  it  presumption  to  say  that  the  moral 

*  "  The  planets  and  the  stars,"  says  the  Essayist,  "  are  the  lumps  which 
have  flown  from  the  Potter's  wheel  of  the  Great-worker,  the  shred  coils 
of  which*in  His  working,  sprung  from  His  mighty  lathe  ;— the  sparks 
which  darted  from  His  awful  anvil,  when  the  Solar  system  lay  incan 
descent  thereon  ;— the  curls  of  vapor  which  rose  from  the  preat  caul 
dron  of  creation,  when  its  elements  were  separated."— P.  243. 

22* 


258  MOKE   WOKLDS   THAN   ONE. 

world  extends  to  these  distant  and  unknown 
regions ;  that  they  are  occupied  with  people ; 
that  the  charities  of  home  and  of  neighbor 
hood  flourish  there ;  that  the  praises  of  God  are 
there  lifted  up,  and  His  goodness  rejoiced  in ; 
that  piety  has  there  its  temples  and  its  offer 
ings  ;  and  that  the  richness  of  the  Divine  attri 
butes  is  there  felt  and  admired  by  intelligent 
worshippers?"* 

*  Astronomical  Discourses,  pp.  3G,  37.— Without  multiplying  extracts 
from  the  writings  of  philosophers  and  divines,  it  may  be  sufficient  to 
state,  that  Dr.  Derham,  in  his  Astrotheology,  3d  edit.,  1717,  pp.  xlvii., 
liii.,  liv.,  has  stated  his  reasons  for  believing  that  the  fixed  stars  and 
planets  "  are  worlds,  or  places  of  habitation,  which  is  concluded  from 
their  being  habitable,  and  well  provided  for  habitation."  Dr,  Paley  also, 
though  he  does  not  discuss  the  subject,  evinces  his  opinion  when  he 
states,  that  "  even  ignorance  of  tho  sensitive  natures  by  which  other  plan 
ets  are  inhabited,  necessarily  keeps  from  us  the  knowledge  of  numberless 
utilities,  relations,  and  subserviences,  which  we  perceive  upon  our  own 
globe. — Natural  Theology,  edited  by  Lord  Brougham  and  Sir  Charles 
Bell,  London,  1836,  p.  16. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

THE    FUTURE   OF  THE   UNIVERSE. 

HAD  the  doctrine  of  a  Plurality  of  Worlds 
been  one  of  those  subjects  which  merely  gratify 
our  curiosity,  we  should  not  have  occupied  .the 
reader's  time,  or  spent  our  own,  in  illustrating 
and  defending  it.  "While  the  scientific  truths 
on  which  it  depends  form  one  of  the  most  in 
teresting  branches  of  natural  theology,  and  yield 
the  most  striking  proofs  of  wisdom  and  design, 
they  are  intimately  associated  with  the  future 
destiny  of  Man. 

There  are  three  departments  of  Natural  The 
ology  which  demand  our  most  earnest  attention, 
— the  living  world  around  us,  the  world  of  the 
past,  and  the  world  of  the  future.  In  the  wonder 
ful  mechanisms  of  animal  and  vegetable  life  with 
which  we  are  so  familiar,  and  in  the  inorganic 
structures  amid  which  we  dwell,  we  recognize 
imperfectly  the  innumerable  proofs  of  matchless 


260  MOKE   WOHKDS  THAN   ONE. 

skill  and  benevolent  adaptation»with  which  they 
abound.  Our  daily  familiarity  with  the  ordinary 
functions  of  life,  degrades  them  in  our  estima 
tion.  There  is  something  which  we  deem  un 
clean  even  in  the  healthy  condition  of  animal 
bodies,  and  their  functions  and  their  products, 
which  deters  all  but  professional  men  from  their 
study,  and  robs  them  of  their  inherent  claims 
as  incentives  to  piety,  and  as  proofs  of  design. 
Even  the  chemistry  of  inspiration  by  which  we 
live,  and  the  science  of  the  Eye  and  the  Ear, 
on  which  all  our  intercourse  with  nature  and 
with  society  depends,  are  scarcely  known  to  the 
best  educated  of  the  people. 

It  is  otherwise,  however,  with  that  department 
of  natural  science  whfch  treats  of  the  formations 
and  fossil  remains  of  an  ancient  world.  With 
the  structure  and  functions  of  animals  which 
inhabited  the  earth  previous  to  its  occupation 
by  man,  we  have  no  familiarity.  We  see  them 
only  in  their  graves  of  stone,  and  beneath  their 
monuments  of  marble — creations  which  cannot 
again  die,  and  with  which  everything  mortal 
has  ceased  to  be  associated.  Time,  in  its  most 
hoary  aspect,  has  invested  them  with  a  hallowed 


THE  FUTUKE  OF  THE  UNIVERSE.         261 

and  a  mystic  character.  The  green  waves  have 
washed  them  in  their  coral  beds,  and  after  ages 
of  ablution  in  a  tempestuous  sea,  the  ordeal  of 
a  central  fire  has  completed  their  purification. 
The  bones,  and  the  integuments,  and  the  mean 
est  products  of  animal  life,  have  thus  become 
sainted  relics  which  the  most  sensitive  may 
handle,  and  the  most  delicate  may  prize. 

But  there  is  another  department  of  natural 
science  which  in  its  interests,  is  deeper  and  more 
varied  still.  Carrying  us  back  to  the  birth  of 
matter,  before  life  was  breathed  among  its  atoms, 
and  before  light  rushed  through  the  darkness 
of  space,  Astronomy  unites,  in  a  remarkable 
degree,  the  interests  of  the  past,  the  present,  and 
the  future.  From  the  time  when  the  earth  was 
without  form  and  void  to  the  present  hour,  As 
tronomy  has  been  the  study  of  the  shepherd  and 
the  sage,  and  in  the  bosom  of  sidereal  space  the 
genius  of  man  has  explored  the  most  gigantic 
works  of  the  Almighty,  and  studied  the  most 
mysterious  of  His  arrangements.  But  while  the 
astronomer  ponders  over  the  wonderful  struc 
tures  of  the  spheres,  and  investigates  the  laws 
of  their  movements,  the  Christian  contemplates 


262  MORE  WORLDS   THAN  ONE. 

them  with  a  warmer  and  more  affectionate  in 
terest.  From  their  past  and  present  history  his 
eager  eye  turns  to  the  future  of  the  sidereal 
systems,  and  he  looks  to  them  as  the  hallowed 
spots  in  which  his  immortal  existence  is  to 
run.  Scripture  has  not  spoken  with  an  articu 
late  voice  of  the  future  locality  of  the  blest,  but 
Eeason  has  combined  the  scattered  utterances 
of  inspiration,  and  with  a  voice,  almost  oracular, 
has  declared  that  He  who  made  the  worlds, 
will  in  the  worlds  which  He  has  made,  place  the 
beings  of  His  choice.  In  the  spiritual  character 
of  their  faith,  the  ambassadors  of  our  Saviour 
have  not  referred  to  the  materiality  of  His  fu 
ture  kingdom  ;  but  reason  compels  us  to  believe, 
that  the  material  body,  which  is  to  be  raised, 
must  be  subject  to  material  laws,  and  reside  in 
a  material  home — a  house  of  many  mansions, 
though  not  made  with  many  hands. 

In  what  regions  of  space  these  mansions  are 
built — on  what  sphere  the  mouldering  dust  is 
to  be  gathered  and  revived,  and  by  what  process 
it  is  to  reach  its  destination,  reason  does  not 
enable  us  to  determine ;  but  it  is  impossible  for 
immortal  man,  with  the  light  of  revelation  as 


FUTUKE    OF   THE    UNIVKESE.        263 


his  guide,  to  doubt  for  a  moment  that  on  the 
celestial  spheres  his  future  is  to  be  spent  —  spent, 
doubtless,  in  lofty  inquiries  —  in  social  intercourse 

—  in  the  renewal  of  domestic  ties,  —  and  in  the 
service  of  his  almighty  Benefactor.     With  such 
a  vista  before  us,  so  wide  in  its  expanse,  and  so 
remote  in  its  termination,  what  scenes  of  beauty 

—  what  forms  of  the  sublime  —  what  enjoyments, 
physical  and  intellectual,  may  we  not  anticipate, 

—  wisdom  to  the  sage  —  rest  to  the  pilgrim  —  and 
gladness  to  the  broken  in  heart  ! 

"  How  welcome  those  untrodden  spheres  ! 

How  sweet  this  very  hour  to  die  ! 

To  soar  from  earth,  and  find  all  fears 

Lost  in  thy  light  —  Eternity. 
"  Oh  !  in  that  future  let  us  think 

To  hold  each  heart  the  heart  that  shares  ; 

With  them  the  immortal  waters  drink, 

And  soul  in  soul  grow  deathless  theirs."  —  BYRON. 

If  these  expectations  are  just,  how  are  we  to 
implant  them  in  the  popular  mind  as  incentives 
to  piety  and  principles  of  action  ?  The  future  of 
the  Christian  is  not  defined  in  his  creed.  En- 
wrapt  in  apocalyptic  mysteries,  it  evades  his 
grasp,  and  presents  no  salient  points  upon  which 
either  reason  or  imagination  can  rest.  He  look? 


264  MOKE   WOKLDS   THAN   ONE. 

beyond  the  grave  as  into  a  nebular  region,  where 
a  few  stars  are  with  difficulty  descried  ;  but  he 
sees  no  glorious  suns,  and  no  gorgeous  planets 
upon  which  he  is  to  dwell.  It  is  astronomy  alone, 
when  its  simple  truths  are  impressed  upon  the 
mind,  that  opens  to  the  Christian's  eye  the  mys 
terious  expanse  of  the  universe ;  that  fills  it  with 
objects  which  arrest  his  deepest  attention  ;  and 
that  creates  an  intelligible  paradise  in  the  world 
to  come.  We  must,  therefore,  impregnate  the 
popular  mind  with  the  truths  of  natural  science, 
teaching  them  in  every  school,  and  recommend 
ing,  if  not  illustrating  them,  from  every  pulpit. 
We  must  instruct  our  youth,  and  even  age  it 
self,  in  the  geology  and  physical  geography  of 
the  globe,  that  they  may  thus  learn  the  struc 
ture  and  use  of  its  brother  planets ;  and  we 
must  fix  in  their  memories,  and  associate  with 
their  affections,  the  great  truths  in  the  planet 
ary  and  sidereal  universe  on  which  the  doctrine 
of  more  worlds  than  one  must  necessarily  rest. 
Thus  familiar  with  the  great  works  of  crea 
tion, — thus  seeing  them  through  the  heart,  as 
well  as  through  the  eye,  the  young  will  look 
to  the  future  with  a  keener  glance,  and  with 


THE  FUTURE  OF  THE  UNIVERSE.    265 

brighter  hopes ; — the  weary  and  the  heavy  laden 
will  rejoice  in  the  vision  of  their  place  of  rest ; — 
the  philosopher  will  scan  with  a  new  sense  the 
lofty  spheres  in  which  he  is  to  study ; — and  the 
Christian  will  recognize,  in  the  eternal  abodes, 
the  gorgeous  Temples  in  which  he  is  to  offer  his 
sacrifice  of  praise. 


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